The Oakland Athletics have had a couple of brutal seasons in the last two years, and now are in the process of moving to Las Vegas, a decision that has angered fans of the team that will be playing in their fourth city in less than 75 years when the team relocates in 2028.
Athletics manager Mark Kotsay has been tasked with the unenviable job of getting his ballclub ready to play, despite the turmoil surrounding the team.
The A's manager spoke with Sam Blum of The Athletic about the challenge of keeping a team in transition focused after losing 102 and 112 games in the last two seasons:
“I can never shake that,” Kotsay said. “Our character gets challenged at times. It’s not easy. No one accepts losing. No one in that clubhouse was happy about last year or the previous season. You use that as motivation. People say you have to go through failure to get better. We’ve been through a lot of failure. I do believe there are better days in front of us.”
The Athletics know that they'll be in Las Vegas in several years, but Kotsay and his team still don't know where they will be playing from 2025-27. The team will play one final season at the Oakland Coliseum in 2024, the final year of the franchise's lease. With the $1.5 billion Las Vegas stadium expected to be ready in 2028, the A's need to find a home for the three years in between.
The Athletics have yet to announce or at least tell Major League Baseball where it plans to play its home games during the 2025-2027 seasons. They were supposed to notify the league by the end of 2023, yet as January 2024 comes to an end on Wednesday, there seems to be no initiative from the A's to make anything official.
Kotsay has had his 2025 team option picked up by ownership, so wherever the team is playing, he'll likely be there trying to improve the Athletics.
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