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| AT&T Park, April 2012 |
With five big-league teams, lots of minor league action, and even a near-champion in the
Little League World Series, California is baseball paradise. The very day I moved to the Bay Area in April, Bruce and I unloaded the rental truck in the morning, started unpacking in the afternoon, and spent the evening at AT&T Park. We watched the Giants beat the Padres that night, and we were there again last Saturday when San Francisco clinched the National League West pennant. I've been to five games at AT&T this season,
getting there via BART, Muni, and even ferry.
Then there are the A's. I've been to three Oakland games so far this year, and I just bought a ticket for the season finale against the Rangers next Wednesday. With the A's hanging tough against their Texas rivals, it's conceivable that Bay Area baseball fans could see both of our teams playing well into October. (It's unlikely we'll see a repeat of the infamous
1989 quake-delayed World Series between the A's and Giants, but you never know.) And while the cavernous Oakland Coliseum can't match the intimate charms of AT&T Park, the A's' home field is super-accessible
via BART or Amtrak's Capitol Corridor and you can see a game and eat for about $20 (usually less than half of what you'll spend to see the Giants).
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| Oakland Coliseum, fireworks night, July 2012 |
We are blessed in the Bay Area to enjoy true baseball riches and two winning teams with great transit access, so if you haven't yet been to a game this year, now's the time. The Giants have one last regular-season game Thursday (September 27) at 12:45 before traveling to Southern California for games with the
Padres in San Diego and the
Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. Meanwhile, the A's finish out their season with a six-game home stand starting Friday, while the Los Angeles-Anaheim
Angels - also in the hunt for an American League wild card berth - wrap up their home season Thursday against the Mariners.
