Photo credit: @NBCSAuthentic

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — The San Francisco Giants will host the Oakland Athletics on July 13, 14 and 15 as the A’s end their last road trip previous to the first half of the season.

After the All-Star break, both teams will play in their first series at the Oakland Coliseum. The two Bay Area franchises have celebrated anniversaries in 2018–the Giants’ 60 years playing in San Francisco since they moved from New York in 1958, and the A’s 50 years in Oakland since they moved from Kansas City, Mo., in 1968.

Today, it is called The Bay Bridge Series or the Battle of the Bay, but it was called the BART Series in the past.

The Oakland Coliseum and AT&T Park are separated by a bridge and a bay 16.2 miles apart. The only two cities in America that have two MLB teams within their city limits are New York and Chicago.

The Yankees vs. Mets rivalry is still going strong after they met for the first time 56 years ago. Back in 2000, these two New York teams were in the World Series. I remember the arguments in the streets of New York, where you have to pick one or the other–because in the Big Apple, you cannot be a fan of both the Mets and Yankees.

Anyways, the Cubs and White Sox both have long, storied histories and a rivalry that spans 100-plus years. It all started in the 1906 World Series when they first met, and the Cubs lost in six games.

There are other rivalries, but are much more geographically apart, and also in different cities like the LA Dodgers and LA Angels, Washington Nationals and Baltimore, and vice versa. Notice these are all American League vs. National League teams. There are others, but they are much far apart inside the same states, like, say, Kansas City Royals and St Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers, Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays, etc. It takes hours by land or minutes by air to commute to those series. Of these, the only rivalry with a head-to-head World Series history was in 1985 when the Royals defeated the Cardinals in seven games.

The A’s and Giants met in one World Series in 1989 when the A’s swept the Giants, despite the uncertainty after the Loma Prieta earthquake interrupted the rivalry with a 6.9 intensity prior to Game 3 at Candlestick Park.

For those who were there, that was one of the most unforgettable moments of our lives. Overall, the A’s have won four World Series during their 50-year history in Oakland, while the Giants have won three during their 60 years in San Francisco. Prior to the start of this 2018 season, the odds for these two teams to win the World Series this year where; 200-1 for the Giants and 300-1 for the A’s.

The Giants and A’s met for the first time in the regular season in June 1997 for their first year of inter-league play. For many years, they have played previous to the regular season, but those have been exhibition games as part of Spring Training.

The Giants and A’s will have something more to play for when the two teams meet this year in the Bay Bridge Series during the regular season–an 18-inch steel trophy salvaged from the original eastern span of the bridge. The first three games will be at AT&T Park on July 13, 14, and 15, and the last three at the Oakland Coliseum on July 20, 21, and 22.

Some folks describe the A’s as a small market team, yet they play in the same Bay Area with seven million people like the Giants, yet they do not call the Giants a small market team. It always makes me question their logic.

But, Louis D. Brandeis, an American lawyer and associate justice to the Supreme Court of the United States, once said, “The logic of words could yield to the logic of realities.” He was right. In other words, the reality is that the A’s are not a small market team, but they would be if they were still playing in Kansas City. That, my amigos, is a small market.

AT&T Park notes: First game(s) were played from April 11-13 vs. Dodgers, who swept the Giants. The last three games of 1999 and the final three in Candlestick Park history were also against the rival Dodgers.

It’s hard to believe it happened 18 years ago. I was there to call those games, including the first Splash Hit into McCovey Cove in right field by Barry Bonds on May 1, 2000. The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company paid $50 million for the naming rights for 24 years, so it has been known as the PAC Bell Park and SBC Park before ATT Park.

Also, if you take a closer look at the Willie Mays statue by the main entrance on 2nd and King, there are inaugural bricks of Giants’ broadcasters who were there for the inaugural season in 2000.

Mine read, “For those who could not leave Cuba and enjoy big league beisbol.”