SAN JOSE — The San Jose Giants and Oakland Ballers were in the same ballpark – literally and figuratively – on Wednesday night in San Jose.
The Giants, the single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, and the Ballers, an independent team from the Pioneer League, played a competitive exhibition game at Excite Ballpark, with the Giants coming out on top 5-2.
The matchup was the first-ever contest between affiliated and independent baseball teams, a new rivalry dubbed the “Battle of the Bay 2.0.”
While it can’t replace the now-extinct rivalry between the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants — the first iteration of a professional cross-Bay baseball battle — the competition between the two minor-league clubs renewed the spirit of the original series.
The two squads hope to make this an annual event moving forward.
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