LAS VEGAS – Shawn and Aubrey Bitter drove eight hours from Salt Lake City with their young son basically to watch the Oakland A’s and Milwaukee Brewers play a spring training game at Las Vegas Ballpark on Saturday.
And also to make a statement.
Shawn, standing in a crowded concourse while watching the A’s beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 at the Las Vegas Aviators’ Triple-A stadium, had a green T-shirt on, but instead of the team logo, the front spelled out S-E-L-L.
The Bitters, as their name implied, were not happy about this whole situation with the team moving out of Oakland. The couple lived in Pleasant Hill before moving to Salt Lake City last summer. They are tried and true A’s fans and went to “a ton” of games in the Coliseum before moving.
They are still very much fans of the team, just not the ownership. They even went to the protest game last season.
“I believe the Oakland A’s are the Oakland A’s and that’s where they belong,” Aubrey said. “Vegas could get its own team and that would be great.”
That being said, the Bitters are hoping the team decides to make a temporary home in Salt Lake City while the new stadium is being built in Las Vegas. Shawn said they would immediately buy season tickets.
“That would be a dream come true for us,” Aubrey said.
Shawn has two brothers who live in Las Vegas, but they are Cardinals fans so he can’t get a true feel how the locals feel about the move.
“I’m curious to hear from Vegas people about whether they even want the team,” he said.
Las Vegas residents Brian Rich and Sean Jurebie have lived in Las Vegas for more than 10 years apiece and attended Saturday’s game donned in their Aviators caps and jerseys. In fact, they walked to the ballpark from Rich’s home in the nearby Summerlin community.
“I think the A’s are going to be a great addition to what we have here in Las Vegas,” said Rich, who moved to Las Vegas from Sacramento 13 years ago. “The Aviators are a local base, but the A’s will add the next level to this. It’s going to be amazing.”
Oakland Athletics infielder Max Muncy (72) signs autographs before a spring training baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Saturday, March 9, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
Jurebie said the success of the Golden Knights and the Raiders are a good barometer of what Major League Baseball can do in Las Vegas. He also said the affiliation between the A’s and the Aviators will connect the two fan bases.
“It’s like with the Golden Knights with the (IHL) Silver Knights,” Rich said of the Golden Knights’ top minor league team in nearby Henderson. “This is still neighborhood baseball, but then you get a chance to go to the Strip to watch Major League Baseball.”
At the same time, though, it would take something special to make that 30-minute drive from Summerlin to the Strip and fight the traffic to watch the A’s there. Not to mention the inflated costs associated with a major league game.
“The Strip can be a hindrance,” Rich said. “Because once something hits the Strip, the monetary cost skyrockets.”
A’s games against the Yankees and Red Sox would be a big draw, but he also said he would go to watch some of the prospects they’ve gotten familiar with in Triple-A make their big league debuts.
“We get to know some of the guys (from the Aviators) because they live right near us,” Rich said. “If they get called up, I’m gonna go down and watch them.”
Although the team won’t be in Las Vegas until at least 2028, Rich is talking about players such as Lawrence Butler, who played last season with the Aviators but was called up to the big leagues in August and enjoyed his time in Nevada.
“Vegas is a cool city,” Butler said. “My time here had been pretty fun. The fans always came out showing up. It would be pretty cool to play here.”
Catcher Kyle McCann spent all of last season with the Aviators, but since he hasn’t even made his major league debut yet, he isn’t even thinking about what city he’ll play in once he does get called up. Still, he was impressed with the fan support the Aviators received.
“I know at least on Friday and Saturday games, we got a lot of fans,” he said.
EARLY VEGAS DEBUT?: Team president Dave Kaval is looking for a place for his team to play the next three seasons, but it’s also possible that some of those regular-season games could be in the Aviators’ Las Vegas Ballpark.
He told MLB.com it’s likely they’ll try to play one or two series in their future home city early in the season, maybe even for home openers.
“The MLB season starts earlier than Triple-A, so you could come here and play one or two series,” Kaval said. “That would give the community here a little taste. It would be a nice revenue generation opportunity for the folks here. … This venue is practically a Major League venue. They did a really nice job here, so I think that’s an interesting aspect to what we could do as well.”
GAME NOTES: Saturday’s game was a sellout with 9,342 in attendance. The two-game total attendance was 17,280.
The A’s won 4-2 on Saturday to split the series. A’s prospect Armando Alvarez went 3-for-3 with a home run for Oakland. JP Sears started and went three innings, allowing one earned run with one walk and three strikeouts. Gerardo Reyes picked up the win, pitching the fourth inning with no runs allowed, no walks and two strikeouts. Tyler Ferguson earned the save, with a scoreless ninth with one strikeout.
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The Brewers won Friday night’s game, 5-4. Miguel Andujar hit two home runs for the A’s, driving in all four runs. Mitch Spence started and went four innings, giving up two earned runs with one walk and four strikeouts.