If bad baseball teams are like unhappy families in that each is bad in its own way, they can at least be sorted into two general, overarching categories. There are teams who stumble into a bad record accidentally. And there are teams who are purposefully built to be bad.
There has been no more distressing example of the latter in recent memory than the A’s. Their record speaks for itself: 3–16 entering Friday, the worst run differential in baseball, a pitching staff whose performance has been so miserable and disjointed as to stretch the definition of both “pitching” and “staff”. Since the team’s last playoff appearance three years ago, the front office has dismantled the roster with clinical precision, trading every player who might conceivably attract the interest of a competitor. That’s left them with the smallest payroll in the game. And it’s now accompanied by more existentially distressing news off the field: The A’s are not long for Oakland, their home of 55 years, in favor of a long discussed move to Las Vegas.
The franchise has signed a binding agreement to purchase 49 acres of land (with the option to add more) near the Las Vegas Strip. (The news was first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.) The team says it hopes to have a 35,000-capacity, billion-dollar stadium with a retractable roof built by 2027. That could include up to $500 million in public financing, per the Nevada Independent. (The team’s lease in Oakland expires after the 2024 season; it’s unclear just where the team might play in ‘25 and ‘26, but according to comments by team president Dave Kaval, they are considering using the current ballpark of the Triple A Las Vegas Aviators.) Under majority owner John Fisher, the club has been threatening to relocate for years amid fraught negotiations for a new ballpark in the Bay Area. It now looks ready to follow through.
