A rare Friday night off suits the A’s just fine
The A’s were off Monday and they’ll be off again Friday.
What in the name of Catfish Hunter is going on?
For years, baseball’s scheduling tradition created a summer rhythm fans could depend on. When there was a rare break in the action for a day off or travel day, it was reserved for Mondays or the occasional Thursday.
Somewhat surprisingly, MLB has added Fridays to the day-off mix.
The A’s are one of five teams who agreed to sacrifice a Friday home game this season. The A’s are the only team to do it twice. In addition to this Friday, the A’s also will be dark on Friday, Aug. 23 before hosting the Giants in a Saturday-Sunday series.
After taking this Friday off they will host a Saturday-Sunday series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
“It may never have happened,” A’s president David Kaval said of going dark on a Friday. “We wanted to try it and see how it works out. The initial response has been very positive.”
Kaval said tickets are selling briskly for the weekend-only Cardinals and Giants series.
Why would the A’s, Rays, Angels, Reds and White Sox give up Friday night home dates? The reasons vary, but in the A’s case, it made more sense to play a two-game series on a weekend rather than during the week — es
pecially with high-profile opponents.
Kaval said it was a nobrainer.
“We said that’s worth it to play marquee opponents on a Saturday and a Sunday,” Kaval said. “It’s a huge benefit and something we can really promote around it.
“It is important to have tent pole events like this. We’ve made so many improvements to the Coliseum and we want to get people out who have never been here or maybe haven’t been back for a while.”
Under Kaval’s direction the A’s have been aggressive and creative in reaching out to their fan base, creating the Access program and providing in-stadium sections such as The Treehouse and Stomping Ground.
The A’s interleague schedule has been hit-and-miss in recent years. The Oakland portion of the Bay Bridge series has been played on weekdays four times since 2013. The Dodgers have visited the Coliseum three times since 2012 — but never on a weekend. Big-market interleague foes such as the Cubs (2013) and the Mets (2014) also were weekday visitors.
Will the tradeoff pay off for the A’s?
Oakland is averaging 19,206 fans per home game this season. Friday attendance is slightly above that (19,224). The Cardinals’ last Oakland visit in 2013 averaged 26,649 for a three-game weekend series.
Kaval said tickets already are being sold for Mount Davis for the Giants series.
“We like the direction so far,” Kaval said.