Amid the severe heat in Sacramento this month, the leader of the players’ union said Saturday he would like to discuss with the commissioner’s office whether morning games should be an option when the Oakland Athletics move there next season.
The average high temperature in Sacramento was 107.5 over the first 12 days of this month, with the high hitting 113 on multiple days.
The Yolo High Wheelers of the independent Pioneer League moved the start time of their July 2-4 home games from 6:45 p.m. to 10 a.m. because of what the team called “extreme heat.” The team plays in Davis, about 15 miles from where the A’s plan to play in Sacramento.
“As it relates to the schedule itself, we’ll have to have a conversation about what that looks like,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said here Saturday, “whether that’s playing night games, whether that’s playing morning games, whether that’s moving particular dates to certain times.
“All of that is going to have to be discussed, all with an emphasis on the health and safety of the players themselves.”
Clark said discussions with the league are “ongoing” but expressed frustration that the logistics for the Sacramento move have not been finalized. He said players have expressed concern about facilities, scheduling, travel, game times, player health and safety, and arrangements for players and their families.
“It’s important to have as much runway as possible,” he said. “These decisions needed to be made yesterday, as a result of where we are in the calendar and the adjustments and considerations that players and their families are going to have to make.”
The union has no say on whether the A’s can play in Sacramento, but the MLBPA must agree on whatever plans the A’s and the league propose to bring the minor league ballpark up to major league standards and address the health and safety of players.
In Sacramento, where the triple-A River Cats play, renovations to accommodate the A’s are well underway, including construction of a major league clubhouse behind the left-field foul pole. The teams will share the ballpark.
In the parking lot, spaces are reserved for potential season-ticket buyers — or, as the sign trumpets, “Future A’s Premium Season Member.”
The A’s expect to reveal more construction and ticket details for their Sacramento home in the near future.
A league spokesman said games have been moved because of extreme weather conditions, including hurricanes and air quality. The league consults its medical staff and engages with the MLBPA over any weather-related concerns.
It is not unprecedented for a major league team to play its home games in oppressive heat. The Texas Rangers played all their games outdoors here, in the Texas heat, from 1972 through 2019. Their first stadium with a roof, Globe Life Field, opened in 2020.
Broadcast agreements that guarantee games be played during particular windows of time could complicate any effort to move major league games to the morning, Clark said, but he added that should not be a factor in discussing minor league game times.
Although the High Wheelers moved three games to the morning, the River Cats did not move game times that week. The temperature at first pitch: 102 at 7:05 p.m.
For the A’s, artificial turf complicates the situation.
The Sacramento stadium features a grass surface now, but the triple-A team that plays there will remain there too. The grass would be unlikely to remain robust with either the A’s or the River Cats playing on it just about every day, so artificial turf allows for a better surface all summer long.
Turf can be problematic, though. A turf surface can run 35 to 55 degrees hotter than natural grass, according to the Penn State Center for Sport Surface Research. Contact with a turf field in excess of 120 degrees can cause skin burns, according to the National Recreation and Park Assn.
The A’s plan to play in Sacramento for at least three seasons, until their proposed new ballpark in Las Vegas is complete.
In the team store, however, the A’s do not yet exist. During a visit this week, the merchandise there focused on the River Cats. The first thing you see upon entering the store: a display of San Francisco Giants merchandise. The River Cats are the triple-A affiliate of the Giants.
The A’s arrived in Oakland in 1968, turning the San Francisco Bay Area into a two-team major league market. When the A’s leave Oakland this fall, the Giants will once again have the Bay Area all to themselves.