How to Watch the Oakland Ballers This Season

Jason Burke | May 21, 2024

After months of hard work forming a franchise, putting a team together, and renovating Raimondi Park, the Oakland Ballers are ready to set sail on their inaugural season in the Pioneer League. While their first home game is still two weeks away, the PL season officially begins tonight. The first-ever game will be streamed for free on FloBaseball's YouTube channel and begins at 6:05 PDT.

The general schedule will have night games from Tuesday-Friday, with Saturday and Sunday being afternoon games, followed by an off-day on Monday. While the first game will be shown for free, the rest of them will require a subscription to Flo Baseball, which runs $12.50 per month on the annual plan that is billed all at once at $150, or $29.99 per month on the monthly plan. Each plan gives viewers full access to the FloBaseball library, is available in HD, and can be accessed on web or the FloSports app-available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, and Chromecast.

Ballers games will also be available on 860 AM The Answer as the team's official broadcast partner, and beginning on Friday, June 9, all of the team's Friday night home games will be broadcast on KPIX+ 44 Cable 12 in the Bay Area.

A couple of players to watch out for are Dondrei Hubbard, who was the first player the Ballers signed back in early December, and right-hander Kelsie Whitmore.

Hubbard is the defending Pioneer League batting champion after hitting .395 last season with a .456 OBP, 11 homers, and 17 stolen bases. He is the B's first-ever "franchise player" which allows a club to skirt the rule that limits players on the roster to those that have a limited amount of professional experience. Not only is he a bat to be feared in the middle of the B's lineup, but Hubbard will also be sharing his knowledge with other sluggers as the team's hitting coach.

Whitmore is continuing her journey on the independent circuit after pitching the past two years for Staten Island in the Atlantic League. She was the first woman to play in that league, and she'll also be the first woman to play in the Pioneer League when she debuts. While there is a lot of local excitement locally for the Ballers preserving baseball in Oakland, there are similar levels of excitement for Whitmore on this roster. She won her spot on the roster during the team's open tryout at nearby Laney College.

Fans in the Bay Area are so eager to attend a game that opening day tickets are already nearly sold out. June 4 at Raimondi Park is going to be an exciting day for baseball fans in the East Bay, and with the season nearly underway, those that will be in attendance can get to know the roster a bit before they head to the first home game.

This team has a chance to be special. Not necessarily for their on-the-field play, but because of what they'll mean to the community. The city of Oakland needed a win with the A's choosing to leave town, and the Ballers have a good shot at filling that baseball-sized hole in many of our hearts.