Sports
The A’s are leaving Oakland — good riddance to an inept owner and MLB enablers
Usually when I want to unearth my love of baseball, I call my good friend Carlos Jackson. Nobody in my circle of life loves baseball more than him. His dad took him to the 1990 World Series when he was 7 years old. Some days when school ended at Encinal High, he’d make his way by himself to the Coliseum and just go to the A’s game. If he wasn’t a man of faith, he’d fight you over Ken Griffey Jr.
So on the cusp of the A’s final game in Oakland, allegedly, I called Los. To hear his passion for baseball and the A’s. My best attempt to summon some kind of emotive vibes to match this historic moment. He told story after story. About catching batting practice home runs in the bleachers. About being interviewed at the A’s game by local TV, which happened to be when baseball returned after 9/11, which happened on his 18th birthday. About getting booed by a packed Coliseum after dropping an easy pop-up from New York Yankees slugger Paul O’Neill on the third-base side. About the significance of the A’s, for most of his life, being the only Bay Area jersey he could wear that plastered “Oakland” on the chest — where people from the Town most wanted it plastered.
I listened to him rue this pending day, and the significance of what will be lost. The conversation prompted a moment of reflection and digestion of his thoughts.
I still felt nothing.
This is not a perspective to represent A’s fans. That contingency is too large and diverse to be defined by any one purview. Nor is this declaration on behalf of Oakland natives, though yours truly is such.
GO DEEPER
With both cheers and angry chants, Oakland fans send off beloved A’s in final home game
This is but the revelation of one. The occasion of the A’s final game in Oakland isn’t sad. It isn’t infuriating, though I could feel reputed sports broadcaster Larry Beil when he went off. It isn’t even disappointing.
The search for sentiment on this occasion, instead, revealed a heart that resembles a typical Thursday afternoon game at the Coliseum. Empty.
It’s all dried out over here.
It’s not for a lack of trying. Went and bought the classic A’s hat. Tried to start writing my favorite A’s player at every position. But fond memories of games, of players, of moments are being drowned out by the fatigue of this stadium saga. Memories of the Bash Brothers, mimicking Dave Stewart’s stare while playing strikeout at the park, the 20-game win streak — as Ken Korach said in his final Coliseum call, those memories live forever. But nostalgia is no match for the numbness born of MLB’s abandonment as the A’s try for a heist on a struggling city.
I’ve been reading the great pieces about better days. Listening to people share their memories. But the pangs for the ownership are just too loud. It’s hard to care when it’s so blatantly not reciprocal.
That’s not an insignificant evaporation. I used to walk from Sobrante Park to the Coliseum for the Safeway Saturday Barbecue. I’d wait until first pitch to do my chores so I could listen to Bill King call A’s games on the radio. I’ve broken a couple of dishes frustrated at Dave Kingman strikeouts. I joined half the Oakland kids of my era who claimed Rickey Henderson was my cousin. I still believe the gray road A’s jerseys that said Oakland on the chest is the coldest baseball jersey ever. I’ve had aunts and uncles and homies and neighbors work A’s games at the Coliseum. From middle school field trips to high school fundraisers to boys nights out as adults, attending A’s games was a staple of community.
Now? In the words of the legendary Oakland philosopher on matters of the heart, Keyshia Cole, “I just want it to be over.” Extract them from our presence as the imitators they’ve proven to be.
Manager Mark Kotsay addresses the crowd after Thursday’s win over the Rangers, the A’s last game in Oakland. They’ll play in Sacramento the next three years. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
Perhaps this absence of sentiment is the organic jadedness of being in the industry, 25 years of seeing the sausage get made. Maybe it’s the decades of the A’s threatening to leave, attempting to leave, followed by a couple of unserious pursuits of stadiums in Oakland — one of them included getting owned by a community college district — with conditions and qualifiers that revealed their true feelings about this place. Perhaps it’s a developing disposition, matured by a society increasingly bent to the whims and wishes of billionaires.
All of the above is reasonable.
Either way, the Oakland Athletics are not worth the emotional investment this moment warranted. Not from me. John Fisher has been a treacherous steward over one of the gem franchises of sports. Everything about the A’s has crumbled under his leadership — winning, fandom, reputation.
Major League Baseball forfeited its right to tug these heartstrings one last time. They’ve allowed this all to happen, preferring frugality and profit margins over culture and history.
That’s why this Athletics’ goodbye to Oakland is lacking in emotion, for me. What made them special to this region has long been squandered. They’ve disparaged the city and fan base for years, blaming their mediocrity on insufficient support from the fan base and the local leaders. As if it isn’t their job to inspire such support.
They’ve refused to pay every player fans love. They’ve opted to rebuild every time they’ve been close to contending. They’ve eroded the relationship for years, all to acquire public funding.
The A’s are leaving now, but they’ve been gone. The recipes lost.
Sports franchises, in our billionaire’s paradise of a country, are no longer a public trust. Not as the norm. They’re big business with little room for municipal motivations. They buy franchises and inherit allegiance, passion and loyalty. Many have forgotten fans’ hearts weren’t part of the purchase.
The A’s actively extinguished the adoration of a proven fan base and then blamed the absence for forcing them to leave. They had a fervent fan base — diverse and affluent and nostalgic — and actively, annually, undermined it.
A’s fans show their opinion of owner John Fisher during a 2023 game. Fisher is moving the team after years of bungled stadium efforts. (Michael Zagaris / Oakland Athletics / Getty Images)
I do understand the hearts that bleed over this. Cognitively, it registers. A’s manager Mark Kotsay walking out to center field with his wife before the final game, it was a poignant illustration. Mason Miller throwing 104 miles per hour on the last pitch in Coliseum history, securing the final out and setting up one last Kool & The Gang “Celebration” outro, was storybook.
But as Kotsay said, it hits everyone at different times. For me, and perhaps others, it hit some time ago. This is but a chance for the nation to remind us of our loss, to be portrayed as unworthy for not unconditionally supporting an unworthy steward in an industry bent on cutting out the less-loaded.
If this final homestand showed anything, much like the reverse boycott, and the grassroots campaign to vindicate the fanbase, and even the energy generated by the Oakland Ballers, the love for baseball lives here. The love for community lives here. The love for history, for relevance, for championships, is here.
The Athletics had it, took it for granted, and had a chance to get it again. But they’d rather take the free money, even if it means crashing on the Sacramento River Cats’ couch for three years. The billionaire A’s owner and his enabling fellow billionaire owners have no interest in earning devotion. Just dollars. They don’t care about cultivating community. Just cash.
My heart, it seems, has grown as cold as theirs.
GO DEEPER
From Tom Hanks to Dame Lillard, mourning the Oakland A’s: ‘It’s pretty heartbreaking’
(Top photo of the Oakland A’s mascot saluting the fans during the team’s final game at the Coliseum: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
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Trevor Bauer, the former Cy Young Award winner and MLB All-Star, tossed a no-hitter for the independent Long Island Ducks in a 13-0 win over the Lancaster Stormers on Sunday afternoon at Penn Medicine Park in Pennsylvania.
It was just Bauer’s second start in the United States since 2021, and he faced just one batter over the minimum in a scheduled seven-inning game of a doubleheader against the Stormers.
Bauer threw 84 pitches, striking out seven hitters and walking just one to lose out on the perfect game.
Trevor Bauer smiles after pitching no-hitter for Long Island Ducks on Sunday, April 26, 2026. (Jordan McGregor)
But Bauer unleashed a roar on the mound after a called strike three to notch the third no-hitter in Ducks history.
Combined with his first outing for the Ducks on April 21, Bauer has a strong 1.64 ERA to start the season in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB), which is a “Professional Partner League” of MLB.
Fans might have been supporting the opposing Stormers, but they understood what was at stake as Bauer was mowing down hitters throughout his start. They were even heard chanting his name at one point, hoping he could keep his hitless streak alive.
After the game, Bauer returned the favor for those at the Pennsylvania ballpark, signing autographs and taking pictures with fans after entering his name into the Ducks’ record books.
TREVOR BAUER SIGNS WITH PRO BASEBALL TEAM IN UNITED STATES AMID MLB RETURN HOPES
“I’m looking forward to competing in front of U.S. fans again this season,” said Bauer when he signed with the Ducks earlier this month. “The Ducks have had some incredible players come through their organization, and I’m excited to be part of that tradition.”
Ex-MLB stars like Dontrelle Willis, Daniel Murphy, Rich Hill and Eric Gagne have played for the Ducks in the past. New York Mets legends Gary Carter and Bud Harrelson both managed the team, with the latter also being a part-owner.
Bauer’s first start for the Ducks impressed an AL team scout in attendance, saying he was pretty impressed by Bauer’s arsenal on the bump.
“He showed flashes of the guy he used to be and a guy who can help a club,” the scout told the New York Post. “He went out and handled himself well. He showed flashes of the breaking ball he had in the past. Certainly the velocity is not what it once was, but it’s still solid, mostly 92-94. He didn’t throw the ball particularly well on the inside part of the plate with his fastball, but I think it was a really good first outing. You’d expected him to get sharper and probably tick up in velocity.
Trevor Bauer and catcher high-five after finish inning for Long Island Ducks in no-hit bid on Sunday April 26, 2026. (Jordan McGregor)
“You’re talking about a guy who was at the top of the game. Is he back there? No, but he looked like a guy who could go out and compete.”
Bauer pitched in Japan in both 2023 and 2025, while a stint in Mexico came in 2024. He pitched to a 2.59 ERA and 9.2 K/9 in Japan in 2023, and in Mexico, those numbers improved to 2.48 and 13.0. Last year in Japan, though, his ERA shot up to 4.41, and he struck out just 8.2 batters per nine innings.
This June will mark five years since Bauer, as the reigning Cy Young Award winner, last appeared in an MLB game. On June 28 of that year, he tossed six innings of two-run ball while striking out eight batters, recording the win.
Two days later, Bauer was hit with sexual assault allegations, which eventually led to a 324-game suspension (the equivalent of two seasons). It was eventually reduced to 184 games for violating the league’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.
Bauer has maintained his innocence, settling with one accuser while another is facing 16 years in prison after being charged with fraud for faking a pregnancy and asking Bauer for money for an abortion.
Trevor Bauer pitches for Long Island Ducks during no-hitter on Sunday, April 26, 2026. (Jordan McGregor)
Bauer and Lindsey Hill, who accused the pitcher of beating and sexually abusing her in 2021, settled their case in late 2023. Bauer revealed texts from Hill, who said that Bauer would be her “next victim,” among other damning messages. Hill has since said that MLB has more evidence of Bauer’s alleged misconduct.
Last June, Hill was ordered to pay Bauer more than $300,000 for violating settlement terms. Hill breached their settlement agreement with each other by discussing Bauer on podcasts and in public appearances, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Nearly two years ago, Bauer said he “may have no other choice” but to sue Major League Baseball “if I continue being kept out” of the league. Bauer has said he’d “play for the league minimum,” but he has yet to sign with an MLB team.
“Anyone that’s willing to sit down with me and listen: I’d like to play the second half of my career in a better way than I played the first half,” Bauer told Fox News Digital in January 2024. “I’d like to be an example that you can make mistakes, recognize them, adjust and then be better in the future. I think that’s something us as humans have to do and should be doing constantly.”
Long Island Ducks pitcher Trevor Bauer throws against the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars at Fairfield Properties Ballpark in Central Islip, N.Y., on April 21, 2026. (Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM/Getty Images)
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Bauer has since called out MLB after Pete Rose and other deceased former players were taken off the league’s permanently ineligible list.
“So, since Pete is welcome back now, does that go for everyone who has been blackballed?” Bauer asked on X. “Or do you actually have to be guilty of something to qualify for that?”
Bauer was performing well for the Dodgers at the time of the allegations, pitching to a 2.59 ERA.
Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
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Seven times in the past 12 seasons the Kings have advanced to the Stanley Cup playoffs, only to leave after the first round.
They’ve changed coaches five times, general managers twice, even the team captains have changed over that span. But the results have not.
The latest flameout came Sunday when the Colorado Avalanche rode two goals from Nathan MacKinnon and goals from Cale Makar, Nicolas Roy and Devon Toews to a 5-1 win and a four-game sweep of the best-of-seven series.
The Kings will begin the offseason for the first time in two decades without Anze Kopitar, who played the final game of his Hall of Fame career Sunday.
Kings captain Anze Kopitar acknowledges the crowd after playing in his final NHL game Sunday.
Fans at Crypto.com Arena chanted “Thank you, Kopi!” in the final minute of the game, giving him a standing ovation. Kopitar received another standing ovation after the team handshakes, acknowledging the cheers from the crowd.
Joel Edmundson had the lone score for the Kings.
If anything, the Kings are heading backward because they won at least one game in their last five playoffs appearances. Against the Avalanche they not only failed to win, they led just once, for three minutes and 24 seconds late in Game 2.
Colorado, the best team in the NHL during the regular season, was clearly the best team in this series as well, going ahead to stay Sunday on MacKinnon’s power-play goal with less than seven minutes left in the first period. That spoiled what had been the Kings’ special-teams advantage in the series.
The Kings, who had a power-play goal in each of the first three games of the series, were shut out with the man advantage twice in the first 12 minutes of Game 4. Then their penalty kill was beaten for the first time in 10 tries when MacKinnon lined home a slap shot in from the center of the left circle 16 seconds after Kings defenseman Brian Dumoulin was sent off for interference.
For MacKinnon, who led the NHL with 53 goals during the regular season, the score was his first of the postseason.
And those weren’t the only penalties in the opening 20 minutes. Just more than two minutes before the first intermission, the physical nature of the series boiled over in a series of scuffles that ended with referee Graham Skilliter meeting with the captains of both teams.
Kings center Anze Kopitar warms up before Game 4 against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
Kings captain Anze Kopitar stands on the ice during the national anthem before Game 4 against the Colorado Avalanche.
Skilliter then handed out four penalties, a two-minute misconduct to Colorado’s Jack Drury while the Kings’ Samuel Helenius received a two-minute roughing and a 10-minute misconduct and teammate Jeff Malott got a two-minute roughing.
And with that, D.J. Smith’s game plan went out the window.
“We have to be disciplined,” the Kings interim coach had said before the game. “Two [penalties] or less.”
The Kings doubled that total in the first 18 minutes.
Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson, left, battles Colorado forward Gabriel Landeskog for the puck in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
Speaking of doubling, Makar gave Colorado a 2-0 lead 5:48 into the second period, collecting a bouncing puck at the blue line, then skating around Kings’ forward Taylor Ward to score on a wrist shot from the edge of the right circle.
But the Kings, less than 35 minutes away from the end of their season, refused to quit with Edmundson cutting the deficit in half about eight minutes later, sending a wrister from the top of the left circle on goal. Colorado goalie Scott Wedgewood appeared to stop the puck, only to have it fall to the ice and trickle across the goal line.
Roy got that one back for Colorado 3:13 into the final period, banging the rebound of an Artturi Lehkonen shot between the pads of Kings goalie Anton Forsberg. When Toews scored less than three minutes later, the Avalanche had the biggest lead of the series and the rout was on.
Kings captain Anze Kopitar plays his final NHL shift in Game 4 against the Colorado Avalanche.
MacKinnon added the final score into an empty net.
And with that another disappointing postseason ended for the Kings and another long offseason began, one the team and general manager Ken Holland will enter with more questions than answers, beginning with the status of his interim coach and the aging core of his roster.
Kings captain Anze Kopitar raises the Stanley Cup as he floats across Lake Bled in Slovenia with family and friends in 2012.
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UFC fighter Tim Means was arrested earlier in the week on a child abuse charge in New Mexico, according to online court records.
Means was arrested on Wednesday and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque. He didn’t appear to have an attorney listed. Fox News Digital reached out to the UFC for comment.
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Tim Means reacts after his TKO victory over Andre Fialho of Portugal in a welterweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sept. 23, 2023. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images)
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call about a physical altercation at a Tijeras home, the Albuquerque Journal reported, citing a criminal complaint. The alleged victim, a teenager, reportedly told dispatchers that the two had been in a spat over chores when he headbutted her.
Means was accused of grabbing the teen in a “strangulation matter.” The mixed martial artist allegedly got angrier, threw a potato at the alleged victim and punched her in the face, according to the paper.
Thiago Alves fights Tim Means during UFC Fight Night at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7, 2019. (Amber Searls/USA TODAY Sports)
“Let it be known that there were visible hand and red marks on (the teen’s) neck, indicating she was strangled,” according to the complaint. “There was blood on and in her nose where she was head-butted and several red marks indicated she was hit in the face and on her cheek.”
Means, 42, started his MMA career in 2004 and has appeared in King of the Cage, Legacy FC and UFC. He last fought in UFC in 2024, losing to Court McGee via submission at UFC 307.
Tim Means reacts after a loss to Alex Morono in a welterweight bout during UFC Fight Night at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., on May 13, 2023. (Jim Dedmon/USA TODAY Sports)
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He’s set for a status hearing on May 26.
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