Athletics manager Mark Kotsay doesn’t think about Las Vegas much, guiding the club in Sacramento and across the rest of Major League Baseball. But seated Monday afternoon in the first-base dugout at Las Vegas Ballpark, he did what he’s done throughout his tenure.
Lived in the moment.
Managed the moment.
“This week provides provide an opportunity to kind of get our feet on the ground and touch it as much as possible,” the fourth-year skip told reporters hours before the A’s began the first of six games in their soon-to-be home city. “But an offseason ahead that you know — I look forward to also engaging when I get back here when the season is finished.”
The A’s soft-launched their move to Las Vegas via Monday night’s matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers, filling the ballpark with green and gold and thousands of passionate baseball fans. They autographed baseballs for awestruck youngsters during and after batting practice as wafts of hot dogs, barbeque and popcorn formed the scent of summer.
That baseball smell.
Said Aviators President Don Logan from the suite level in a first inning filled with fireworks, outfitted with a green A’s polo and a steely smile of satisfaction: “It’s very electric. It’s a good festive night. People are excited about the A’s. You can see it. It’s palpable. The concourse is packed. Everybody’s excited. A lot of kids. A lot of families.”
That it was and that there were — well before the first pitch was thrown by A’s lefthander Jeffery Springs. A clever giveaway garnished thousands with jerseys of their club-to-be, white button-ups with Athletics in green in the team’s iconic cursive font. Vegas and 28 matched on the back, a nod to the year the A’s are set to depart from their longtime home of Northern California.
“Great idea to give those away,” Logan said, and indeed it was. “Everything has been spectacular.”
Fans formed lines outside the ballpark — some in Brewers garb, others in Los Angeles Dodgers garb and outfits of other MLB teams — shirking off the desert heat that aptly subsided as play began. Hundreds lined the outfield fence, offering them a priceless view of the first-pitch infinfity-foot bomb delivered into the left-field monster by A’s star catcher Shea Langeliers.
No-doubt shots from Tyler Soderstrom (twice) and Zack Gelof followed as third-inning fireworks with a sixth-inning shot from Nick Kurtz echoing the (literal) pregame pyrotechnics.
Wafts of sulfur don’t smell like baseball.
Vet announcer Bruce Buffer, he of UFC and Golden Knights fame, introduced Kotsay’s starting lineup with his trademark crescendo. That the A’s tabbed Buffer’s bassy barirtone to open their week at Las Vegas Ballpark reflects their sense of enthusiasm.
“The moment you’ve been waiting for,” Buffer roared from the pitcher’s mound, clad in a smoking white jacket with black dress pants to go with black and white shoes.
“It’s time,” he predictably continued.
Almost, anyway.
There’s still another season-and-half before it’s actually time for the A’s to adopt the home that’s under construction on Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. That’s why Kotsay has kept his mind on this year’s team in Sacramento, the one on track to finish the season with its best record since 2021.
“My focus right now is on the ball club and the day-in-day-out,” Kotsay said. “Excited about the future, absolutely. But focused on it? Not yet.”
The patron saint of baseball in Las Vegas after 40-plus years in the local baseball business, Logan allows his mind to wander.
“For me, it’s fulfilling to a degree,” he said. “I’ve always been a baseball-first guy. I’ve always believed it’s the best sport for a lot of reasons. … Vegas is a baseball town first and forever.”
It sure was Monday — with five games to follow.
Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.
