For the last time Sunday afternoon, the Athletics will wear their gray road jerseys with the word “Oakland” stitched across the front in cursive.
After calling the Bay Area home for 57 seasons, the A’s will spend the next three seasons playing at a minor-league stadium in Sacramento, Calif., while their new ballpark in Las Vegas is built.
The season finale Sunday against the host Seattle Mariners won’t elicit the same feelings as Thursday’s final home game at the Oakland Coliseum — A’s pitching legend Dave Stewart compared it to going to a funeral — but it will be bittersweet nonetheless.
There were even some fans wearing yellow and green in the stands at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park the past two nights.
“There were some more Oakland fans here cheering for us,” A’s pitcher JP Sears said. “We always have that in the back of our minds. … I think recognizing that, playing hard and getting to 70 wins (the A’s are 69-92) would be huge.”
The Mariners (84-77) have won the first two games of the series, 2-0 on Friday night and 7-6 in 10 innings Saturday.
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh has homered in both games, giving him a team-leading 33 homers and 98 RBIs for the season.
Luke Raley wielded a big bat Saturday, hitting a run-scoring double in the seventh inning to break a 3-3 tie and a two-run shot with one out in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score at 6.
“It’s the big leagues,” Raley said. “Not everybody gets to do this. I will never take a day for granted.”
That came after Oakland’s Shea Langeliers hit a three-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth to give the A’s their only lead.
Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom also went deep for the A’s. For Rooker, it was his 39th homer of the season.
“Rook has been phenomenal. He’s not only having this great season, but he’s becoming a really great teammate, really great leader,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “Not that he wasn’t a great teammate, just a great leader in this clubhouse with these guys. You can see him kind of emerging and taking on that responsibility. Which is awesome. I hope that (Sunday) works out for him and he gets that 40th home run.”
Both teams plan to send right-handers to the mound for the finale, which will match Oakland rookie Mitch Spence (8-9, 4.35 ERA) against Seattle’s Logan Gilbert (8-12, 3.33).
Spence has faced the Mariners twice this season. He got a hold with a scoreless inning of relief in an 8-1 victory May 11 at Seattle, and he started and took a 4-3 loss on June 4 in Oakland, giving up four runs on nine hits over six innings.
Gilbert is 2-1 with a 3.36 ERA in 11 career starts against the A’s. He suffered a 2-1 loss June 5 at Oakland despite giving up just one earned run over seven innings. He took a no-decision in a 5-4 loss Sept. 2 at the Coliseum when he allowed four runs on four hits in six innings, with one walk and nine strikeouts.
–Field Level Media