San Jose Giants, Oakland Ballers begin new Battle of the Bay as minor league baseball embraces major rivalry

SAN JOSE — Orange and black. Green and gold.

“Let’s go, Giants!” “Let’s go, Oakland!”

If you closed your eyes – or opened them at the right time – on Wednesday night in San Jose, it almost felt the same.

The Bay Bridge Series – or the Battle of the Bay, whichever you prefer – is no more. The now-former Oakland A’s made sure of that when they picked up and moved on to Sacramento for a layover that will allegedly end with the final destination of Las Vegas. 

So there is now a void for professional baseball in Oakland, and the cross-bay rivalry with the San Francisco Giants, at the major-league level. 

That absence is being filled in part by the Oakland Ballers, the spiritual successor to the A’s as an upstart professional independent ball team in the Pioneer League. Wednesday, the Ballers brought back something else Bay Area fans are missing.

By traveling down to the South Bay for what was christened the Battle of the Bay 2.0, Oakland renewed a local staple that many thought would never return. The Giants, and Oakland, facing off in a professional baseball game.

San Jose won the exhibition contest 5-2. But the real winner was the fans, who desperately rooted for the concept of a Bay Area pro baseball rivalry to remain a reality.

They showed up – 2,842 of them – at Excite Ballpark. And both teams expressed their intentions to do it again next year.

“It’s good to have a place where you can grow up and bring your kids,” said dual fan Mica England, who was jointly decked out in a Ballers sweatshirt and Giants jersey. “It’s nice to have a team that actually appreciates the community, doesn’t take them for granted and doesn’t use them as a stepping stone for somewhere else.”

The Ballers have stated that they will never leave Oakland. But they did – for a few hours – on Wednesday, and co-founder Bryan Carmel sees this new series as another trail marker charting the path to the Ballers becoming Oakland’s new baseball team of record. 

“We’ve been cooking this up and hoping that we could make it happen, but we also knew that it would be a complicated process,” Carmel said. “The Ballers have been a big story in the Bay Area, and we’ve gotten some national attention in the last year. This is a good way to amplify that. 

“The Battle of the Bay has been a legacy in the Bay Area for a long, long time. We all grew up with the ‘89 World Series, and there’s no more A’s-Giants series that we all have to look forward to. So we said, ‘Well, why don’t we start a new tradition?’”

It’s a hit so far. Listening to the sounds of pounding drums and boisterous chants from the Oakland section, opposed by a spirited response from the Giants fans in attendance, the scene was very much like what one would have seen in days past at Oracle Park or the Oakland Coliseum. 

“The Ballers continue to break barriers, continue to do things that are unheard of, and that’s what Oakland’s about,” said Ballers catcher Tyler Lozano, who crushed a solo home run to left-center field in the second inning. “Oakland’s about the community. Oakland loves baseball. Oakland wants baseball, and we’re filling that void for those fans. And we enjoy that.”

In many ways, the burden of making the game work fell upon the San Jose Giants. They’re the affiliated team, after all, with MLB ownership and prospects on their roster, and they have a season to prepare for, which commences on Friday in Modesto. 

But they decided to accommodate the Ballers – and the wishes of thousands of Bay Area baseball fans – by welcoming a team that is a natural competitor into their home.

“Tonight is all about a celebration of the Bay Area baseball fan and what the Battle of the Bay has meant to the Bay Area baseball community,” San Jose Giants president Ben Taylor said. “It entirely goes back to wanting to bring a part of the Bay Area baseball history back to the Bay Area.

“And however the situation with the A’s ends up, there’s a void in the Bay Area right now, and the intent of this game is to help fill that void. We’re going to do this for as many years as we can.”

After the game, Carmel took a specially designed cake to the face as punishment for the Ballers losing the inaugural matchup. He didn’t look thrilled about the loss or having to pay his penance by way of smashed pastry.

But not long afterward, Carmel was smiling again. It was a commonly shared facial expression on a night that was one of rebirth for Bay Area baseball.

“It’s starting something new,” Carmel said. “There’s a rich tradition of sports in the Bay Area and baseball in the Bay Area, and we’re starting a new chapter for that. 

“When you take away sports teams from a community, it’s like you’re taking away the churches and the synagogues. You’re taking away the cultural institutions that bring us together. We’re at a point in history where there’s a lot of things dividing people. It’s a time when we need more things that bring people together for a shared experience.”