End of an era in Oakland: A’s lost season finale against the Mariners

End of an era in Oakland: A’s lost season finale against the Mariners originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Athletics lost the final game of the franchise’s Oakland era, falling to the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Sunday at T-Mobile Park.

Mitch Spence started the game strong until the wheels came off in the fourth, with the Mariners breaking through for two runs. Eventually, Seattle’s lead grew to six before Tyler Nevin’s double put Oakland on the board in the seventh.

The A’s scored two runs in the top of the ninth, but Max Schuemann’s strikeout ended the game and concluded 57 years of A baseball in Oakland.

After a moving victory at last game against the Oakland Coliseum, The long season took its toll on the A’s final road trip, with the Mariners sweeping the three-game series.

After the final takedown, a large group of fans remained to loudly chant “Let’s go to Oakland,” something that was not lost on manager Mark Kotsay.

“The emotion of Thursday will never be matched,” Kotsay told reporters in Seattle (h/t Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). “But today, knowing that it’s the last game in an Oakland jersey, the chants of ‘Let’s go, Oakland’ as loud as in a visiting stadium was pretty impressive.”

The A’s have made great strides this season, going from 50 wins in 2023 to 69 in 2024. For Kotsay, there is a lot to look forward to next season.

“I think we’ve had a lot of success,” Kotsay told reporters via Slusser. “We’ve built a lot of momentum for next season with this group, it doesn’t matter if it’s 69 or 70 (wins). I wouldn’t take anything away from this group in terms of how we finished.

With budding stars such as Lawrence Butler and Mason Miller, the A’s have plenty to build around for the foreseeable future. However, that future won’t include Oakland.

THE Exodus from the East Bay began in earnest earlier this year when the A’s announced they could not agree to terms on a new lease at the Coliseum, resulting in their temporary move to Sacramento.

As the franchise awaits its new home in Las Vegas, the team will play the next three seasons at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, the current home of the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate, River Cats.