The A's are finally starting to acknowledge their new hometown

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Hunter Strickland throws against Athletics Miguel Andujar during the eighth inning of a baseball game in West Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Photo by: Nic Coury / Associated Press

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — At long last, the Athletics have started to acknowledge their new hometown with merchandise stands throughout their West Sacramento ballpark.

The A's, who announced in the offseason a directive to only refer to the organization by its nickname and not its new city (West Sacramento) or its future one (Las Vegas, theoretically), are now finally selling gear that actually references the California capital. Last homestand, fans on Reddit noticed a baseball T-shirt with gold sleeves and "Sacramento" written multiple times in a multicolored hippy-style font in the team store. At the beginning of this current homestand against the Twins, the team shop received a varsity-style jacket with an embroidered logo of the Tower Bridge and "Sacramento" written in the team's colors, team store manager Daniela Gonzalez told SFGATE.

At Wednesday's game, the merchandise grew even more, with a gray shirt that reads "ATHLETICS BASEBALL" and the embroidered bridge logo next to the text. That design was also available on a crewneck sweater. As of Wednesday evening, the new pieces of apparel were not available for sale online — only at the ballpark itself. They don't come cheap, either: The gray shirt and the baseball tee cost $50 each (though youth variants of the baseball tees were slightly cheaper), the sweater costs $100, and the jacket costs $200.

It was clear at the team shop that the Sacramento-branded gear was of much interest to local fans. The apparel was front-and-center at the shop, and this reporter observed multiple fans ask an employee to point them toward any items referencing Sacramento. Before this gear arrived, the only things the team shop had referencing the A's temporary home after leaving Oakland were a white shirt with the Tower Bridge logo printed on it and baseball hats with the bridge logo on a patch on the side. A different A's employee told this reporter unprompted that more Sacramento-branded merchandise was expected to come in as the season goes on.

Whether this will rejuvenate local interest in the team remains to be seen. But given that the A's have gone 1-20 in their last 21 games before Thursday's afternoon game, it'll be quite a herculean task for those pieces of fabric.