After up-and-down year, can Oakland’s last pro baseball team make it work?

OAKLAND – The line outside Raimondi Park started forming just before 4 p.m. — more than 2 1/2 hours prior to the start of the Oakland Ballers’ season-opening game. Just before the gates opened to fans at 5:30 p.m., the line had stretched over half a block down 20th Street.

By first pitch on Tuesday, close to 4,100 fans who had bought seats for the Ballers’ Opening Night game on an ideal 65-degree evening had jammed into the cozy West Oakland ballpark.

“We’re not going to let baseball die in Oakland,” Moraga’s Russ Pearce, 81, said. “If it goes down, it will be without us.”

The Athletics are now playing their home games in West Sacramento, leaving the Ballers, starting their second season, as The Town’s lone professional baseball team. With new funding secured, co-founders Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel hope to build on an up-and-down first full season.

Last July, the Ballers fired manager Micah Franklin after just 54 games and the team faced accusations from agent Lonnie Murray on social media that the organization mistreated her clients.

In 2024, the Ballers drew 92,046 fans for their 48 home games, an average attendance of 1,918 that was slightly below the league average (2,213). Still, the Ballers finished the regular season with a record of 58-38, including going 31-17 in the second half, and made the Pioneer League playoffs.

Now it’s a matter of what the fledgling Ballers can do in year two, as they seek a Pioneer League title, and, of equal importance, long-term stability, both financially and otherwise.

“We think we’re a business that’s doing great things for the community, but we also want to be a good business,” said Freedman, also the franchise’s CEO. “We also want to be a business that’s profitable and sustainable for the long haul.

“Baseball businesses are about ticket sales and merch sales and food and beverage sales and sponsorships, and we need to continue to work on all of it to be successful.”

The Ballers announced in April that they had surpassed $3 million in crowdfunding. Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and hip-hop star Too $hort were among the 2,500 individuals who participated in two community investment rounds.

Freedman said the Ballers hope to raise enough money to break even this season before they make the leap to sustainability.

How do they get there?

Sellout crowds like the one that arrived Tuesday will undoubtedly help, as will the near sellouts expected for games on Wednesday and Thursday.

Those who stuck around until the end of Tuesday’s game were treated to a thrilling finish.

Oakland trailed by three going into the bottom of the ninth, but Tremayne Cobb, Lou Helmig, and James Harris IV all collected an RBI to tie the game.

With the Ballers and Ogden Raptors tied 4-4 after nine innings, the game went to a knockout round, or an abbreviated home run derby, per Pioneer League rules. After Ogden’s Chris Sargent failed to hit a homer in his half of the round, Cobb Jr., an infielder, crushed a batting practice offering over the left field wall to win the game for Oakland and set off a wild celebration.

“If a fan leaves with a smile on their face, they’re likely to come back,” Freedman said. “It’s as simple as that.”

The Ballers announced earlier this month a 10-year lease extension for Raimondi Park with the City of Oakland. That commitment would seem vital to showing local fans that the Ballers are in this for the long haul.

Mike Davis-Adams said he grew up five minutes away from the Coliseum and routinely attended A’s games until their last day in Oakland on Sept. 26, 2024.

But Davis-Adams, like many others who used to bleed green and gold, no longer pays much attention to the A’s. He said he went to 20 Ballers games last season and became a full-season ticket holder this year.

“I’ve peeked at (the A’s), seen their record, but I have not watched a game since they left the Coliseum,” said Davis-Adams, 48, who now lives in Union City. “Very somber, very sad. (A’s owner John) Fisher doesn’t care, and we’re here to put all our money and time and effort into (the Ballers) to make sure this team thrives, to take over for what the A’s left behind for sure.”

Raimondi Park and the surrounding area have significantly improved in the last year or so, with Prescott Market opening last month. But inside the stadium, spectators still have some challenges. On Tuesday, for instance, fans needed patience as they waited in long, slow lines for food and beverages.

Freedman said more improvements are in store.

“We’ve done this thing where we’re kind of building in public, where everything that we’re doing is entirely in the open,” Freedman said. “We do things well, we make some mistakes, but what we want to do is, every year, every season, every week, even, is try to get better.”

“I think (the Ballers are) doing all the right things to keep the excitement and the participation of the community involved,” said Oakland’s Lyn Ignatowski, who was first in line Tuesday afternoon. “Their outreach has been amazing. So, I don’t see them slowing down.”