Oakland Athletics' Fans Gearing Up For Reverse Boycott on Tuesday Night
This week's series between the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays will be nothing if not interesting.
First off, the opener of the series on Monday features a historic matchup. Given the disparity in records between the best-in MLB Rays and the worst-in MLB A's, it's the matchup with the greatest separation in winning percentage since 1932.
Then on Tuesday, the A's fans are trying to pack the ballpark in an effort to protest the team's current ownership group and possible relocation to Las Vegas.
Per sports and business insider Joe Pompliano on Twitter:
Fans of the Oakland A's have scheduled a reverse boycott for tomorrow's game.
They will pack Oakland Coliseum to show that fans are not the problem.
And they have already raised $30,000, with plans to hand out 7,000 shirts in the parking lot that say "Sell."
This will be fun.
A's fans believe that owner John Fisher is the problem with the organization and is to blame for the team's lack of competitiveness this season (17-50 entering Monday). The team has traded away key players like Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea in recent years, rendering the team largely unwatchable.
The A's are last in baseball this year in average attendance at 8,865 fans per game. While they believe that Fisher points to lack of support as a reason to move the team, fans say the small crowds are because the team has been gutted by Fisher. This game on Tuesday is a way to show the world that the fans do support the team and are willing to come to the ballpark -- in Oakland.
Fisher has fully owned the team since 2016.
That Tuesday game will begin at 9:40 p.m. ET.
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