End of an Oakland era: A’s lose season finale vs. Mariners

End of an Oakland era: A’s lose season finale vs. Mariners originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Athletics lost the final game of the franchise’s Oakland era, falling to the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Sunday at T-Mobile Park.

Mitch Spence started the game off strong until the wheels came off in the fourth, with the Mariners breaking through for two runs. Eventually, Seattle’s lead grew to six before Tyler Nevin’s double got Oakland on the board in the seventh.

The A’s tacked on two runs in the top of the ninth, but Max Schuemann’s strikeout ended the game and concluded 57 years of A’s baseball in Oakland.

After an emotional win at the final Oakland Coliseum game, the grind of the long season took its toll during the A’s last road trip, with the Mariners sweeping the three-game series.

After the final out, a large group of fans stayed to loudly chant “Let’s go Oakland,” something not lost on manager Mark Kotsay.

“The emotion of Thursday will never be matched,” Kotsay told reporters in Seattle [h/t The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser]. “But today, knowing it’s the last game with the Oakland jersey, then, ‘Let’s go, Oakland’ chants as loud as they were in a visiting stadium was pretty impressive.”

The A’s made big strides this season, improving from 50 wins in 2023 to 69 in 2024. For Kotsay, there is a lot to look forward to next season.

“I think we’ve had a lot of success,” Kotsay told reporters, via Slusser. “We’ve built a lot of momentum for next season with this group, regardless if it’s 69 or 70 [wins]. I wouldn’t take anything away from that group in terms of how we finished up.”

With budding stars such Lawrence Butler and Mason Miller, the A’s have plenty to build around for the foreseeable future. That future, however, will not include Oakland.

The East Bay exodus began in earnest earlier this year when the A’s announced they could not agree to terms on a new lease at the Coliseum, resulting in their temporary relocation to Sacramento.

As the franchise awaits its new home in Las Vegas, the team will play the next three seasons at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, the current home of the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate River Cats.