Oakland Athletics

The Athletics are moving out of Oakland, but it didn't have to be this way. Hall of Famer and Athletics legend Reggie Jackson revealed that he actually had the high bid when John Fisher bought the team in 2005. If Jackson had his way, he believes the A's would be staying put. “I could tell you the team was sold for somewhere between $140 and $160 million,” Jackson told Front Office Sports Today.

Former Oakland A's and Houston Astros outfielder Josh Reddick took to Instagram on Saturday to share a memento that he had received from the Oakland Coliseum, courtesy of Matt Weiss, the Director, Clubhouse & Equipment Operations, and longtime hHead Groundskeeper, Clay Wood. As you can see, this is a patch of right field grass from the final game at the Oakland Coliseum, a spot that Reddick himself patrolled for five seasons (2012-2016) while also earning his first and only Gold Glove award in 2012.

The injured first baseman hit the first game-ending grand slam in World Series history as the Dodgers topped the Yankees 6-3 in the opener.

Ranking all 30 MLB ballparks

As manager of the Oakland A's, Williams arrived just in time as the team was just about to become the dynasty they'd turn out to be, winning the American League West in 1971 (losing to the Baltimore Orioles in the playoffs), but then winning the following two championships in 1972 and 1973 before Williams went on to manage the California Angels in 1974. Over the course of his 21-year managerial career, Williams managed five first-place teams, reaching the playoffs with four of his teams: Red Sox, A's, Expos and Padres.

Tony La Russa, a decade into his Baseball Hall of Fame membership, appreciates the impending World Series' historical overtones pitting the New York Yankees with the Los Angeles Dodgers. “The unique part about this: they're both facing a tremendous amount of pressure,” La Russa said in an exclusive interview with this news organization. La Russa knows World Series heat.

On Friday, Oct. 25, the New York Yankees play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first game of the 2024 World Series. The series promises to display the best baseball has to offer — and that promise lies in stark contrast to the sorry state of the Oakland Athletics, historically one of baseball's more prominent teams. Just a month before the World Series starts, the A's — who spent only $53 million on their roster this year — played one final game at their home stadium, the Coliseum.

A's prospect Colby Thomas, who is coming off a breakout campaign in the team's system, is one of the myriad of top players across baseball that have been added to the Team USA roster ahead of the third World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12™ tournament. Thomas is currently ranked as the A's No. 7 prospect by MLB Pipeline. Thomas, 23, was recently named the A's top hitting prospect for 2024 after batting a combined .277 with a .342 OBP and 31 homers between Double-A Midland and Triple-A Las Vegas.

Pablo Reyes, who most recently played in the big leagues with the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets in 2024, has elected free agency. Reyes was a pretty big part of the Sox roster in 2023 after coming over in a May trade with the Oakland A's for cash.

Major League Baseball's pitch to have the Oakland A's play on an artificial turf field for its inaugural season in West Sacramento struck out. The league reversed course Monday, announcing that when the A's and the Sacramento River Cats — the San Francisco Giants' AAA affiliate — temporarily share the field at Sutter Health Park starting in 2025, they will instead continue playing on a grass field.

As the Boston Red Sox seek a right-handed power bat, don't be surprised if they ring up the Oakland Athletics. Boston's chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will no doubt be monitoring the free agent market for guys like Teoscar Hernández who can provide the Red Sox with some righty pop, but Breslow should be open to trades, as well. NESN's Tim Crowley recently indicated that Breslow could make a move for Athletics superstar Brent Rooker, who is coming off an All-Star season but is still under contract for $3.5 million in 2025, a tiny number compared to his baseball value.

1974: The only team other than the New York Yankees to win three straight World Series the past 70 years were the Swingin' A's of Oakland. Reliever Rollie Fingers—he of the famous handlebar mustache—was the Series MVP.

The Houston Astros designated right-hander Brandon Bielak for assignment on May 11, and he was picked up by the Oakland A's not too long after, with the Athletics needing fresh arms pretty regularly at that point in the campaign. Bielak ended the year in the minors for Oakland, and on Tuesday he elected free agency. Bielak, 28, was originally selected by Houston in the 11th round of the 2017 Draft and made his big-league debut in 2020 with the club.

For the first time since he and the late Eddie Einhorn bought the team in 1981, Jerry Reinsdorf has been linked to a possible sale of the White Sox. The Athletic reported Wednesday that Dave Stewart and business partner Lonnie Murray have put together a group that is in discussion to purchase the team. Both Reinsdorf and Stewart, a 168-win pitcher who has also worked as a player agent and team executive, denied comment when reached by the Athletic.

MLB X was quick to push the Tampa Bay Rays-to-Oakland talk after Hurricane Melton destroyed Tropicana Field's roof.

The former Oakland A's made some real improvements on the field in 2024, which saw Brent Rooker establish himself as a big-time bat in the middle of the lineup, Lawrence Butler become arguably the face of the A's rebuild and JJ Bleday put together a solid breakout campaign. While the A's are headed to Sacramento, the goal for the team on the field will still be to finish with a .500 record. The A's finished with a cumulative ERA of 4.37, which ranked No. 24 in MLB, but it was also a full run better than they finished with in 2023's 112-loss season. The A's starters in 2024 ended up with a 4.76 ERA, which was well above league average (4.15).

The Detroit Tigers' Game 3 of the ALDS at Comerica Park drew 44,885 fans, setting the postseason record for the park that opened for the 2000 season.

How can you not be romantic about baseball? After watching this edit of Kerry Carpenter's home run for the Tigers, it will be extra tough.

Many at the Coliseum for the Athletics' final game in Oakland took a piece of history with them in the form of merchandise, photos and even dirt and bases off the diamond. Star right-fielder Lawrence Butler, however, took home other commemoratives. “So, I got a pretty big 2024 schedule,” Butler told host Chris Rose.

Nearly 30 years to the date that seven-year Major League Baseball veteran and Niceville resident Scott Hemond made his final plate appearance for the Oakland Athletics, the A's said farewell to "The Town" with a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers on Sept. 26, ending a 56-year stay and closing the chapter of professional sports within the city for the foreseeable future. Before being drafted as the 12th overall pick in the 1986 MLB Draft, Hemond, now 58, was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, before moving to the Tampa area and playing for Dunedin High School. The Kansas City Royals drafted Hemond as the 21st pick in the fifth round of the 1983 MLB amateur draft while he was still playing at Dunedin High.

It appears the Athletics are poised to make a splash in the international free-agent market. Shotaro Morii, a 17-year-old Japanese high school star, is likely to sign with the A's as an international free agent, Yahoo Japan reported Monday.

Logan Salow's return to his alma mater has been a fruitful one as he was promoted to Director of Scouting and Analytics by Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione this offseason. Director of Operations Brock Doud also has been promoted to Chief of Staff. Salow, an Ashland, Kentucky native who returned to the program last season after a professional career will help keep Kentucky on the forefront of the analytical data and information space. Salow turned in a career year for Kentucky in 2017, Mingione's first in Lexington, and was rewarded when the Oakland Athletics selected him in the sixth round of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft.

During the A's end-of-season meeting with the press, manager Mark Kotsay expressed a desire to add some pitchers with a little more swing-and-miss heading into the 2025 season. Over at Baseball America, they released a list of the 90 prospects that threw 100 miles per hour in the minors this past season, and the A's had four players on that list. Here are the four prospects in the A's system that topped triple digits. Otañez actually made his big-league debut with the Oakland A's in June, geting into one game before getting sent down to the minors.

The Athletics plan to recruit free agents harder than normal before their first year at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. General manager David Forst, architect of the A's league-low $63.4 million payroll in 2024, told reporters Friday about the team's intention to spend during the looming offseason. “We do expect our payroll to increase,” Forst told reporters Friday (h/t Sports Illustrated's Jason Burke).

Oakland Athletics outfielder Brent Rooker underwent surgery on his right forearm after being bothered by an elbow issue that limited him to playing primarily designated hitter this season. Rooker's arthoscopic procedure was performed Tuesday by Dr. Michael Freehill to repair an extensor tendon that was partially torn, according to general manager David Forst. The 29-year-old Rooker had a career-high 39 home runs and 112 RBIs while batting .293 over 145 games — 131 of those as DH. Manager Mark Kotsay hopes once healthy Rooker might be a regular outfield option again.

Darell Hernáiz and Max Schuemann were the last players to record a pair of stats with the Oakland Athletics in their 57-year MLB spell.