A’s Super Fan Ready To Roll At Athletics Spring Training Opener At Camelback Ranch Saturday; A’s Home Opener In Mesa Sunday
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Shop at Jay’s Market at 190 East Flamingo Road at the Koval Lane intersection east of the Strip.
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
GLENDALE, Arizona — It was three and a half hours before the Athletics were going to launch their first spring training ballgame against the Chicago White Sox and A’s super fan Mike “Road Trip” Marler was already strolling outside the ballyard with the khaki-colored exterior.
A’s fans have responded to the Athletics’ departure from Oakland with a spectrum of reactions, ranging from intense vitriol and deep sadness to acceptance and understanding.
Marler, a 59-year-old Sacramento resident, attends all A’s games on the road and he’s here, naturally, for the Athletics’ first game of the Cactus League. The A’s play their spring home-opener in Mesa Sunday. It’s the Athletics’ 58th spring training in Arizona. The historic American League franchise started in Philadelphia, moved to Kansas City then Oakland before playing three seasons in West Sacramento with a projected arrival in Las Vegas in 2028.
“I’ve been traveling with the A’s for eight springs,” said Marler, who will be in Las Vegas for Big League Weekend March 7 and 8 and also bought tickets for the six A’s regular season games in Las Vegas in mid-June. It’s two three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers (June 8-10) and Colorado Rockies. (June 12-14).
“I have to show you something. I was in Seattle for the last Oakland A’s game (Sept. 29, 2024) and I told a (Mariners rep) that we were going to win. He said the Mariners were going to come back and win. Darn it, they did and I had to dress as the mascot for the Mariners’ Triple-A team in Modesto. I dressed as the Modesto Nuts mascot,” Marler told me.
“I was told I had to do it for only inning.” Marler said, scrolling on his cell phone to find the photos showing him dressed as the Nuts mascot. He eventually found the photos and showed them to me.
“I said no way,” Marler said. “I’m doing it for all nine innings.”
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Only two days ago, A’s brass like team executive Sandy Dean and president Marc Badain were in Las Vegas to give the stadium authority board an update on the stadium project on the Strip.
That’s life for the A’s these days — holding spring training in Mesa, prepping for the regular season in West Sacramento and marketing future tickets at the $2 billion stadium on the Strip at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue where the former Tropicana hotel-casino used to stand. The A’s are building their 33,000-fan ballpark on nine acres of the 35-acre site.
The A’s are going to charge personal seat licenses (PSLs) for fans who buy premium season tickets. Badain estimated about 6,000 full season premium deals will be bought for the stadium that will have 30,000 seats and standing room for another 3.000.
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The White Sox won 60 games while losing 102 and finished in last place in the American Central Division in 2025.
Meanwhile, the A’s went 76-86 last season and could have competed for a playoff position if not for an awful three-week stretch in May.
As you might expect. today’s crowd did not exactly fill Camelback Ranch, where the Dodgers and White Sox share a spring complex.
There was probably about 2,500 fans in the spring venue in the city of Glendale, which is northwest of Phoenix in the sprawling valley here. The Athletics’ Mesa complex is about 45 minutes to the east and south.
There was a decent number of A’s fans.
One fan was Hector Galvin, 45, who lives south of San Jose, California. He said he loves the A’s, but not owner John Fisher.
So Galvin said he enjoys attending away A’s games in spring training. But he noted he does not attend A’s games at the Triple-A stadium in West Sacramento and did not expect to travel to Las Vegas to catch A’s games at the stadium being built on the Strip. The A’s believe the Vegas ballpark will be ready for the 2028 Major League Baseball Stadium.
“I can support the A’s without supporting the owners,” Galvin said.
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Fisher has opened an A’s welcome center in the southwest Las Vegas Valley in the UnCommons mixed use development off the 215 beltway.
When LVSportsBiz.com chatted with Fisher last, he seemed happy and looking to start fresh in the Las Vegas market.
There are doubters out there, but Fisher says he and his family, which owns the Gap retail store empire, have enough money to pay for the $2 billion stadium in Las Vegas. He will get public help in the form of $380 million in public assistance under a 2023 Nevada A’s stadium bill. The A’s say they will use $350 million of the $380 million.
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The A’s are counting on the stadium generating major revenue streams because the franchise known for letting young talent go has signed up budding stars like shortstop Jacob Wilson and outfielder Tyler Soderstrom to seven-year extensions, counting on the players to be on the team that christens the Las Vegas stadium in 2028. Even manager Mark Kotsay has a contract that extends to when the A’s hope to be on the Strip.
The A’s luxury tax payroll is projected to be $131.9 million, according to Spotrac, below the tax threshold of $244 million. The player payroll is expected to be about $80 million, with pitcher Luis Severino leading the way with $25 million.
Here’s the A’s thumbnail on Severino, who is listed to start Sunday’s game against Cleveland.
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This souvenir pin caught my attention. The White Sox owning their 1919 history with this novelty item.
The White Sox were beating the A’s , 7-2. in the bottom of the sixth inning after beating the Cubs in Mesa Friday. The parking guard at the White Sox parking lot said former A’s and White Sox manager Tony LaRussa, who is a White Sox advisor, came by and was happy about the White Sox win over the Cubs. Don’t forget, these are spring games.
The guys wearing jerseys with the highest numbers are playing.
The White Sox walked off the field with an 11-2 win.
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PSA
