Las Vegas ឬអត់ A's បន្តក្លាយជា Albatross ជុំវិញករបស់ MLB

Whether it’s past, present, or future, the story of Major League Baseball’s Athletics has been one of an albatross around the league’s neck.

The A’s have been a nomadic team throughout their existence. Founded in Philadelphia in 1901 as a charter member of the American League, they won nine AL pennants and five World Series Championships before a power struggle between ownership drove the club into the ground starting in the 1940s due to penny-pinching, a trait that would largely follow the club ever since. In 1954 the club was well on its way to bankruptcy, and shortly after being sold, the team was relocated to Kansas City where they played from 1955-67 before moving to Oakland. For well over 20 years, ownership has pined for a new ballpark and may be on the edge of one now in Las Vegas.

John Fisher, the current owner of the A’s, has done the league no favors. For years the A’s have had one of – if not នៃ – lowest payroll in baseball even when centralized revenues to all 30 clubs have grown dramatically. While other clubs have been run like Saks 5^th Ave or Macy’s, Fisher has run the A’s like Dollar Tree
ឌីអិលអិល
, cutting margins, and living off revenue sharing.

And yet, commissioner Rob Manfred and the owners have continued to put up with a club that strikes one more as the Washington Generals to the 29 other Globetrotters of the league; a cog designed as nothing more than a 30^th team with which to fill the schedule out with. With around a third of the 2023 season in the books, the A’s are on pace to have one of the worst records in league history. At 11-45 (.196 winning percentage), they are projected to win just 32 games this season. If they hold to the .196 winning percentage, they will rank as the losingest team in the 162-game era, easily surpassing the 2003 Detroit Tigers that went 43-119 (.265 winning percentage). They seem primed to be only the second team in MLB history to lose 130 games.

And for this, Manfred and the owners continue to go to bat for ownership.

Mind you, this isn’t some “tanking” strategy like when current Houston Astros owner Jim Crane purchased the club. At the time, Crane made it clear that dumping payroll would allow the Astros to fill a depleted farm system to allow sustainable winning in the future. For the A’s, there’s no such plan. For fans, the only thing they can hang their hat on is hope.

On Memorial Day, a presentation was done in Las Vegas to show how public funding would play out. Streamed online for all to see, it was a parade of incorrect historical numbers, outlandish projections, and creative financing plans, much of which had holes blown in it.

Questions have swirled about the A’s foregoing Oakland for Las Vegas given the downgrade in media market size. Maybe Manfred and the owners will allow the A’s to retain their stake in the Bay Area in exchange for losing a prime expansion market, and leveraging stick to use as a threat for relocation.

Trying to make a method to the madness, maybe expansion is the ultimate endgame here.

For decades – whether it was Bud Selig prior or Rob Manfred now – Major League Baseball has been on a quest to get the A’s and Tampa Bay Rays into new ballparks. Now, that need is greater than ever before.

The A’s are almost assuredly going to be only incrementally better in attendance than they have been in Oakland if they move to Las Vegas. They certainly aren’t going to meet the nearly 28,000 per game average touted in the Memorial Day presentation, and more likely in the 12,000 range that the Miami Marlins see. Yes, the league will host an All-Star Game there. Yes, it provides a facility for the World Baseball Classic every few years. Annually, you’ll get a handful of concerts and if lucky Supercross events. Manfred and the league get a foothold in Sin City to hold the Winter Meetings, but then again, they’ve already done that. The key is getting them and the Rays into ballparks for the next big thing.

There are over $4 billion reasons for the league to get to expansion. That’s because expansion fees are expected to be over $2 billion and the league has designs on going to 32 teams. Doing the math, if the fee was $2 billion each, it would infuse $133.5 million for each of the current 30 owners.

So, Manfred and the owners will hold their noses, pat John Fisher on the back, and move toward the end goal. In the meantime, don’t expect the A’s to become a shining star. You can’t put lipstick on the pig and expect a supermodel. Not in Oakland, and certainly, not in Las Vegas.