Seattle Mariners to Face Brutal Reality When Playing Divisional Opponent in 2025
The Seattle Mariners are about to face a brutal reality when playing the Athletics in 2025. Let's break this down here.
1) The Oakland Athletics are done playing in Oakland after the 2024 season. They will be moving to Las Vegas, just not yet. They are set up to play in Sacramento for the next few seasons while a ballpark is being built in Vegas for them. They will share the ballpark with a Triple-A team already in Sacramento.
2) Since the Mariners and A's are divisional opponents in the American League West, the M's are slated to take two trips to Sacramento in 2025 and beyond. They will play either six or seven games per season in Sacramento until the A's move to Las Vegas.
3) This is where things get dicey for the Mariners. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the A's will have to start Sunday games at 1 p.m. PT as to not conflict with the national broadcasting window in the evening. This means that if the M's are playing the A's on a Sunday, they face the possibility of roasting in 100 degree-plus weather.
Furthermore, because the CBA bargains for day-games on "getaway days" to help ease travel and help recovery, the M's will likely get caught playing in another Vegas day-game or two, meaning they will be subject to more heat-related issues.
MLB and the A’s are trying to schedule as many night games as possible in Sacramento, but it’s impossible to avoid day games. In fact, all Sunday home games will be day games, likely beginning at 1 p.m.
That’s because like other teams, the A’s must adhere to MLB’s exclusive network broadcast window on Sundays, which calls for all Sunday games to begin prior to 4:15 p.m. ET except the game scheduled for ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.”
There also will be day games during the week in Sacramento, albeit fewer than in Oakland this season — if they’re necessary on getaway days to accommodate teams’ travel schedules, per the collective bargaining agreement.
4) Furthermore, it will be even hotter on the field as the A's park will have a turf field to put up with the demand of hosting two different home teams.
Some of the information in this story was aided by SACTownSports. The original report from the SF Chronicle is here.
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