Oakland Ballers - Rooted in Oakland
Published by Amaury Pi-Gonzalez in Sports · 29 November 2023
SPORTS
Oakland Ballers - Rooted in Oakland
Written by: Amaury Pi-González / Photo By: @Oakland Ballers
Oakland, CA - As the sign “Rooted in Oakland” is scheduled to be removed from the west wall of the Oakland Coliseum before the beginning of the 2024 season, another team has been rooted in Oaktown. They are the Oakland Ballers or the Oakland B’s.
The group says they have raised $2 million from investors and pledged to the community that they “will never leave Oakland.” Anybody can become a part owner of the team by contributing to this initial push. Like the NFL Green Bay Packers, the Packers are owned by more than 500,000 community shareholders. Owned by the city’s fans.
This Tuesday, the independent Pioneer League announced that it will add a new expansion team, the Oakland Ballers, to the newly planned Pacific West Division. The Pioneer League is an independent baseball league that operates in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States.
Its teams are not directly affiliated with Major League Baseball. It is designated as an MLB Partner League. So, Oaklanders can now claim: “We already have an expansion team.”
Starting in 2024, the Oakland Ballers will play in the Independent League. There are two types of professional minor league systems: Independent and Affiliated. The Ballers will be Independent and, therefore, not affiliated to any of the 30 major league teams.
This league is considered a Rookie-level league. And the teams are Missoula PaddleHeads, Ogden Raptors, Rockey Mountain Vibes, and Billings Mustangs.
The Oakland B’ s are scheduled to begin their season in May 2024 and will play their home games at the Laney College baseball field in Oakland, with a capacity of approximately 800.
Throughout the season, each team plays in 96 games, from May to September, in a split schedule between the North Division (Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Glacier, and Idaho Falls) and the South Division (NoCo, Rocky Mountain, Grand Junction, Boise and Ogden. (This was before the recent announcement of the Oakland Ballers.
Some might consider this some kind of a joke, but it is not. People who like organized baseball can enjoy a new team in Oakland since the: “old team, the one that won four World Series in Major League Baseball since 1968, has decided to tell Oakland fans, “Adiós, nos vamos a Las Vegas”.
Ballers Rooted in Oakland? As Yogi Berra would say, “Déjà vu all over again.”
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the lead play by play voice on the Oakland A’s Spanish radio network at 1010 KIQI San Francisco and 990 KATD Pittsburg and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com