Why MLB teams’ ‘level of disgust’ with A’s rings hollow

The relocation efforts of the Oakland Athletics have been bumpy, to say the least. That has caught the attention of other teams around the league.

It was officially announced on Thursday that the A’s will leave Oakland after the 2024 season to play in Sacramento. The plan is to play in Sacramento from 2025-2027 before moving to Vegas in 2028, but there is a clause that will allow the team to play an extra season before moving.

ESPN’s Buster Olney reported on Friday that other teams are not happy with how the A’s are handling the move.

“Within other organizations, there is a lot of disgust with how the A’s have handled the ballpark situation — especially when there’s no actual ballpark plan settled in Las Vegas,” Olney tweeted. “And there is an assumption the A’s will tank in the next few years, because their revenue stream will be down to a trickle. ‘This makes us all look bad,’ said one person.”

Within other organizations, there is a lot of disgust with how the A’s have handled the ballpark situation — especially when there’s no actual ballpark plan settled in Las Vegas. And there is an assumption the A’s will tank in the next few years, because their revenue stream will…

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) April 5, 2024

There’s an inescapable issue with other teams taking this stance now. It’s one thing for Nicole Briscoe or Ron Darling to be critical. They are voices that, while prominent, can’t actually do that much beyond speaking out. That’s not the case for the rest of the league.

The issues that Olney detailed have all been apparent through this process. For the move to be approved, 75% of the league had to approve it. So, eight teams voting against it would have been enough to block the move. Yet, when it came time to vote, the move was approved unanimously. This even includes teams that would have personal reasons to prevent it — like, for example, the three Southern California teams and the Arizona Diamondbacks losing the Vegas territory.

So, if there’s a “level of disgust” now, it’s fair to ask a simple question. Where was that disgust when there was an actual chance to do something about it? And if the disgust was there, why wasn’t it acted on?

[Buster Olney on Twitter/X]