Sports
Like it or not, the A’s have a new home, and it's a win for this scrappy city
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The arrival of a major league team to this decidedly minor league city last week was not, as they say in baseball, error free.
Players for the A’s, formerly of Oakland and eventually to be of Las Vegas, were unfamiliar with the layout of their temporary home, Sutter Health Park. There was “a lot of chaos,” manager Mark Kotsay told the Sacramento Bee, as the team tried to figure out how to navigate the much smaller footprint of a triple-A ballpark.
The Wi-Fi went down. The radio broadcast cut out numerous times. The beer line was epic. The game was paused after someone snuck a drone over the field in the seventh inning. Many die-hard Oakland fans in attendance were still roiled by a sense of betrayal at the manner in which the team departed Oakland. And then there was the score: The A’s lost to the Cubs, 18-3.
Summing it all up, the website SFist pulled no punches with its headline: “A’s first game in Sacramento was a complete debacle, and losing 18-3 was probably the least embarrassing part.”
But for boosters of the unsung city of West Sacramento — a scrappy town of 54,000 that many people, even in the wider region, don’t realize is a city — none of that mattered.
Excitement has been running high ever since team officials announced that the A’s would alight at the 14,000-seat stadium of the minor league River Cats — the triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants — for three years while the A’s future home on the Las Vegas Strip is constructed.
This has been widely described in the national press as a move to the city of Sacramento, California’s capital, which is across the river from West Sacramento and in a different county. Most of the news organizations that crowded in to cover the season opener, and the players they quoted, didn’t seem to register the existence of West Sacramento.
A’s relief pitcher T.J. McFarland’s comments were typical. “It’s a nice city, the state capital,” he told the Sacramento Bee, standing in the heart of West Sacramento’s most treasured civic landmark.
West Sacramento took it all in stride. City officials are used to living in Sacramento’s shadow, and they are confident that bringing the A’s here — even if no one seems to know the team is here — will be a boon.
After all, it’s not the first time that the magic of baseball has lifted this town’s fortunes.
“I couldn’t be happier to share the limelight with our neighbors across the river,” said state Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-Yolo), who served two decades as West Sacramento’s mayor before being elected to the Senate last year.
Still, Martha Guerrero, the city’s mayor, made one thing clear: “We prefer West Sacramento. That is the official location.”
West Sacramento has long been the region’s scrawny stepchild of a municipality. The city of Sacramento, population 526,000, with its luminous Capitol dome, graceful tree canopy and Gold Rush-era prominence, was incorporated in 1850. Across the Sacramento River and the county line, the other major towns in Yolo County followed not too long after. Woodland dates to 1871. Winters was incorporated in 1898. And even relative newcomer Davis became an official city in 1917. Woodland was known for its stately Victorian homes; Winters for its picturesque downtown and miles of walnut orchards, velvet green against the purple Vaca Mountains; and Davis for its bustling University of California campus.
But for most of the 20th century, what is now called West Sacramento was a collection of small communities known, in many ways, as a dumping ground for people and pets the city of Sacramento didn’t want.
Back in the day, Sacramento authorities “escorted their criminals, morphine addicts and alcoholics” to the area, according to a historian quoted in the Sacramento Bee in 1984. During Prohibition, the area was known as “Sin City” because it did not embrace the era’s no-alcohol edict. During the Depression, one longtime resident told a local newspaper, it was common practice for Sacramentans to dump dogs and cats they could no longer afford to feed on the West Sacramento side of the river.
By the early 1980s, the area was known as a hub for drugs and prostitution, particularly along a strip of rundown motels that lined West Capital Avenue.
Still, local leaders always had big dreams. In the 1940s, Congress authorized construction of a deep water channel that connected the community with Suisun Bay. In the 1960s, the Port of West Sacramento (originally the Port of Sacramento) became operational, hosting big cargo ships and giving rise to a thriving industrial base.
In the 1980s, developers saw the area’s potential as an affordable bedroom community for legislative aides and other state employees working just a short drive or bike ride away in Sacramento’s downtown, on the other side of the landmark Tower Bridge. Single-family homes started going up on what had been vast acres of cropland sprouting corn, tomatoes, melons and rice.
And in 1987, voters in the area finally voted to incorporate.
The Tower Bridge spans the Sacramento River, connecting West Sacramento with the glittering downtown of its higher-profile neighbor, the city of Sacramento.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
It was shortly after this that Cabaldon moved to town.
“I accidentally ended up in West Sacramento,” he said. The year was 1993, and he was starting work as a legislative staffer. A real estate agent took him to a “great neighborhood” that was “unusually affordable” and promised that exciting shops, restaurants, parks and other amenities were coming soon. Cabaldon was sold. “I didn’t realize it was the other side of the tracks, and no one wanted to go there at night,” he said.
Cabaldon grew to love his little city. He admired its gorgeous riverfront — mostly underused land, but so much potential. Still, he noticed that many of the amenities the real estate agent had promised were nowhere on the horizon. And he gathered, too, that the city had long felt like an underdog.
Instead of moving, he ran for City Council. He lost, but ran again and won in 1996. By 1998, he was mayor. Shortly thereafter, he recalled, he was approached by developers who wanted to build a minor league ballpark in the city.
“We kind of ran with it,” he said. “It really changed the notion that we were the armpit of the region.”
The park was built, and by 2001, the River Cats had moved in (originally as a farm team for the Oakland A’s before becoming the Giants’ triple-A affiliate in 2015). The ballpark, which is a stone’s throw from the Sacramento River and about a mile from the Capitol, quickly became a draw for people across the region.
Sure, the team took the name the Sacramento River Cats, but their presence in West Sacramento helped spur a whole new wave of development: affordable condos, apartments and townhomes geared toward young workers and, finally, the long-promised restaurants and big-box stores so that all these new residents had places to eat and shop without crossing the river. Parcel by parcel, the land along the city’s waterfront was transformed into entertainment venues, parks and trails.
“We’ve done so many ribbon cuttings,” said Guerrero, the mayor.
West Sacramento was on its way, even before the A’s very bad breakup with Oakland.
The Oakland Coliseum, the A’s longtime home, was widely considered one of the most run-down stadiums in the major leagues — baseball’s last dive bar, as the Guardian newspaper put it. There were, famously, feral cats roaming the complex. Dead mice where they didn’t belong. Sewage issues. Barbed wire. And so much concrete.
“It’s a giant concrete toilet bowl,” said baseball analyst Eric Byrnes, who played six seasons for the A’s. “But it’s their toilet bowl, and it’s a special toilet bowl.”
The A’s owner, John Fisher, made no secret of his desire to get out, and when he finally did, hatching a plan to move to a $1.5-billion stadium on the Las Vegas Strip, residents of Oakland — and a host of nostalgic sportswriters — erupted with fury and heartbreak.
In a 2023 photo, fans at Oakland Coliseum protest the A’s plans to relocate.
(Jed Jacobsohn / Associated Press)
“The argument could be made that the A’s departure from their run-down home for the riches of Las Vegas is a large part of what’s wrong with American professional sports today,” the New York Times said.
“The Oakland A’s were so much to so many of us, for so long, and now they are nothing at all,” wrote Ellen Cushing in the Atlantic.
At the last game in the Coliseum, desperate fans assailed the owner with loud chants of “Sell the Team.” Then they waited in line to collect dirt from the old diamond.
It is said there are two sides to every breakup. But in this divorce, it seemed almost everyone took the side of Oakland and its fans.
The A’s season opener in West Sacramento was marked by operational glitches as the team figured out how to navigate the much smaller footprint of a triple-A ballpark.
(Scott Marshall / Associated Press)
All these months later, West Sacramento officials emphasize they played no part in stealing the team from Oakland. But they also don’t hide their pride in being the A’s rebound city — even if it’s just for three years.
They spent the off-season making upgrades to the stadium, including a new clubhouse and expanded locker room facilities. They came up with a parking plan to accommodate what are expected to be bigger crowds. They added premium seating.
The dream, Guerrero said, is that the A’s short-term relationship with West Sacramento is such a success that Major League Baseball considers the region for an expansion team. And all the dreamier if they put that team in her town — and not that stepsister city across the river.
“West Sacramento has a strong fan base,” Guerrero said. “We’re a baseball city.”
For years, Stephen A. Smith’s many football blunders have been easy enough to explain away.
He’s not an NFL guy (remember when he said the three key players for a game were three guys who weren’t playing in the game?)
Stephen A. Smith falsely claimed the Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since 2022, but Golden State reached the second round in both 2023 and 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)
He’s definitely not a college football guy (remember when he called Jalen Milroe Jalen “Milroy” multiple times and then read the wrong stat line after a College Football Playoff game?).
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ESPN forces him into those conversations because First Take has to talk football, and Smith knows that football is the most popular sport in the country and he needs to be seen as an authority (even though he isn’t).
But Monday’s latest mistake is a lot tougher to excuse, because this time Smith wasn’t talking about the NFL or college football. He was talking about the Golden State Warriors, one of the defining NBA dynasties of the last decade.
In other words, he was talking about the sport and the league that’s supposed to be his bread and butter.
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While discussing whether Steve Kerr has coached his last game with Golden State, Smith confidently stated the Warriors “haven’t been back to the playoffs since that championship in 2022.”
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr looks on during a game against the Sacramento Kings. (Robert Edwards/Imagn Images)
That’s not even close to true. Not only did Golden State make the playoffs last season, but they also reached the postseason in 2023. Last year, the Warriors made the playoffs, beat the Rockets in seven games and advanced to the second round before losing to the Timberwolves. In 2023, they beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round and before losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
So, Smith wouldn’t even have been right if he said they haven’t won a playoff series since 2022. But he didn’t say that. He said they didn’t make the playoffs in any of the past four years, except they did it twice.
Yikes.
This is not an obscure piece of NBA trivia that Smith could be easily forgiven for not knowing. Perhaps he was too busy playing solitaire on his phone and just missed two of the past three NBA postseasons. That’s a tough look for the guy who fancies himself as the No. 1 NBA analyst in the country.
And it’s a terrible look for ESPN, as they keep selling Smith as one of the faces of their NBA coverage.
Stephen A. Smith made a brutal gaffe while talking Warriors playoff history
If Smith made this kind of mistake while talking about the NFL, nobody would be shocked. At this point, sports fans practically expect him to butcher football analysis. It’s almost endearing that a guy with the ego of Smith can be so consistently wrong while also delivering every “fact” with the utmost confidence. It’s part of the Stephen A. experience.
But this one hits differently because the NBA is where he’s supposed to at least know the basics. This is where Smith prides himself as being an authority figure.
Stephen A. Smith incorrectly stated the Golden State Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since their 2022 championship, despite the team reaching the postseason twice since then. (Candice Ward/Imagn Images)
And yet he couldn’t keep the recent playoff history of the Warriors straight. The team whose head coach is in the news every other week. The team that has won four championships since 2014. Arguably one of the most important franchises in the NBA over the past 15 years.
Yes, Golden State missed the playoffs in 2024 after getting bounced in the Play-In Tournament (although they won 46 games that season). And yes, it fell short again this season. But that’s a lot different from acting like Steve Kerr has spent four years wandering the basketball wilderness since winning that 2022 title.
He hasn’t. In fact, the team is 175-153 in the past four regular seasons.
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The Warriors made the second round in 2023. They made the second round again in 2025.
Before burying Steve Kerr on national television, maybe Stephen A. Smith could take 10 seconds to confirm whether the Warriors were actually, you know, in the playoffs.
A legendary NFL coach found linebacker Rod Martin not by scouting him at USC, but almost by accident.
The Oakland Raiders had a throwaway 12th-round pick in the 1977 draft, and then-coach John Madden grew frustrated hearing his personnel executives contemplate using it on a basketball player or track guy. Finally, Madden blurted out that he could find a random kid walking around the USC campus in sandals who could make more of an impact than that.
“Ron Wolf says, ‘All right, smart guy,’” recalled Madden’s son, Mike. “So they were a couple picks away and dad goes, ‘Let me call [USC coach] John Robinson.’”
Robinson had one question: Has Rod Martin been drafted?
Raiders linebacker Rod Martin stands on the field during a game against the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 6, 1987, at the Coliseum.
(Mike Powell / Getty Images)
“Dad goes, ‘What position does he play?’” the younger Madden said. “Robinson tells him Martin is a linebacker, and dad goes, ‘Good. Tough guy we can knock around in training camp. Have him run down on kicks.’ And Robinson says, ‘No, John. Rod Martin will make your team.’”
Martin did a lot more than make the team. He would go on to set a Super Bowl record with three interceptions in one of the most dominant defensive performances in championship history.
Martin, who would play his entire 12-year career with the Oakland then Los Angeles Raiders, is dead at age 72. The Raiders announced his death Monday but did not specify a cause of death.
“The Raiders family is deeply saddened by the passing of Rod Martin, a standout linebacker and key player on two Super Bowl championship teams,” read a team statement.
The franchise called Martin, “a beloved member of the Raiders Family and a favorite of Raiders fans everywhere.”
A two-time Super Bowl winner and a two-time Pro Bowl selection, Martin saved his best game for the biggest stage. In Super Bowl XV at the Louisiana Superdome, he intercepted Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski three times in a 27-10 Raiders victory.
“What I remember about Rod was his ability to diagnose and react,” Jaworski said by phone Monday. “In the Super Bowl, he makes two phenomenal plays. He has three interceptions, but interceptions one and two — I’d like to say they were bad decisions on my part. They weren’t. I tried to squeeze throws in. He just made a great play. He was a great athlete.”
Three years later, Martin was still a key component to the Raiders’ defense in a Super Bowl victory over Washington. He had a sack of quarterback Joe Theismann, a fumble recovery, and a fourth-and-one stop of John Riggins late in the third quarter of a 38-9 blowout.
Born in Welch, W. Va., the son of a coal miner grew up in Los Angeles and attended Hamilton High before going on to play at Los Angeles City College and USC. The NFL saw him as a tweener, too small for linebacker at 210 pounds and too slow to play safety. Clearly, that was a faulty assessment.
Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon was two years behind Martin at Hamilton, and the two remained friends throughout the decades that followed.
“We met when I was a sophomore,” Moon said. “He was a senior — middle linebacker, fullback and center on the basketball team. He was the ultimate athlete. At the time I was there, I looked up to him quite a lot.
“He wasn’t the biggest guy in the world, but he was big enough. He had the strongest hands and the strongest forearms. He could just take a tight end or whoever came to block him, grab his pads, shove him off and go make the play. He was just a real solid player.”
It was those hands that grabbed an opportunity with the Raiders and didn’t let go.
“So dad goes marching into the draft room,” Madden said, “looks at Ron and everybody else and says, ‘We’re going to take Rod Martin, linebacker, USC.’ And they did.”
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New details have emerged surrounding the arrest of former Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch, who is facing two misdemeanor charges following a run-in with law enforcement just days ahead of the NFL Draft.
Branch, who is a projected second-round pick, was arrested early Sunday morning in Athens, Georgia, and charged with two counts of obstructing public sidewalks/streets – prowling and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.
Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver Zachariah Branch celebrates after a touchdown catch against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Nov. 28, 2025. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
He was released after more than two hours in jail after posting $39 in bonds.
The NFL Network obtained the police report from Branch’s arrest, which described an encounter over an alleged sidewalk incident with law enforcement, in which police alleged that the former Bulldogs star failed “to comply with multiple verbal lawful commands.”
“A male, later identified as Zacharia Branch, continued to stand on the sidewalk without making an attempt to move. I continued to give Zacharia Branch verbal commands to move from blocking the sidewalk and advised that if he did not, he would receive a citation for blocking the sidewalk,” the excerpt from the report read.
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch runs during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., on Feb. 28, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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“Zacharia Branch smirked, then stepped backwards and to the right, then remained standing upon the public sidewalk, so as to obstruct, hinder, and impede free passage upon the sidewalk as well as impede free ingress/egress to or from the adjacent places of business,” the report continued.
“Due to those actions and Zacharia Branch’s failure to comply with multiple verbal lawful commands, he was placed under arrest for misdemeanor Obstruction of LEO and received a citation for Obstructing Public Sidewalks.”
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch celebrates with wide receiver Colbie Young after scoring a touchdown against Ole Miss during the Sugar Bowl at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La., on Jan. 1, 2026. (IMAGN)
Branch transferred after two seasons at Southern California and immediately became quarterback Gunner Stockton’s favorite target. He finished the season with a team-high 811 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns.
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His status as a projected second-round pick was bolstered after an impressive showing at the combine, where he clocked a 4.35-second 40-yard dash.
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