MLB's pitch for new turf field at Sutter Health Park strikes out. A's, River Cats to play on grass.
WEST SACRAMENTO -- Major League Baseball's pitch to have the Oakland A's play on an artificial turf field for its inaugural season in West Sacramento struck out. It's a push that was promptly met with player pushback.
The league reversed course Monday, announcing that when the A's and the Sacramento River Cats — the San Francisco Giants' AAA affiliate — temporarily share the field at Sutter Health Park starting in 2025, they will instead continue playing on a grass field.
"Since the beginning of this process, we have worked collaboratively with the MLBPA to incorporate feedback from major and minor league players regarding the facilities, amenities, and playing conditions in Sacramento. Based on feedback from players, as well as guidance from MLB's long-time field expert, MLB, the A's, and Sutter Health Park have decided to maintain a natural grass field," a spokesperson for Major League Baseball told CBS13 in a statement.
It was first announced in April that the A's would play at least the next three seasons at Sutter Health Park, the current home of the River Cats, while their new stadium is built in Las Vegas. The A's hosted their final game at the Coliseum in Oakland on September 26.
"Our shared, primary concern is ensuring the best and safest playing surface for the A's, River Cats, and visiting players. In light of the players' clear preference for natural grass, and after weighing with the MLBPA the potential risks and benefits of maintaining natural grass versus replacing the playing surface with synthetic turf, all the parties are aligned in moving forward with a natural grass field for Opening Day 2025," the statement from MLB continued.
The switch to a synthetic turf field was justified to give the field more longevity. A field shared by two professional baseball teams will see more than 150 games: that's a game near-daily for six months. Grounds crews being able to maintain the grass field from that amount of wear and tear became a big concern.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, addressing the issue over the summer, said the "vast majority" of games could be played at night when it is cooler and that the turf field would have a "hydration element" to help cool it off.
"Artificial turf gets to be about 50 degrees hotter than natural grass and 70 degrees or so hotter than air temperature. So if you hit 100 or 110 degrees, your artificial turf temperatures can be 180, 190, even up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. That's almost cooking temperatures," said Professor John Abraham, a heat scientist at the University of St. Thomas.
Abraham has published his own scientific research about how artificial fields impact athletes.
"Athletes will get burnt through their cleats and get second and third-degree burns on the bottom of their feet because of this turf when they have long practices," Abraham said.
The possibility of introducing a turf field was announced in the summer in which Sacramento saw a record-breaking 51 days of temperatures at or above 100 degrees -- the city's hottest summer on record.
"So then it wouldn't surprise you that these professional baseball players pushed back against this, that they said we don't want to play on an artificial turf field?" I asked Abraham.
"Well, I think they're smart. I wouldn't want to either," Abraham responded.
Since the turf talk first took off, people like Susan Slusser, a longtime baseball reporter for the SF Chronicle, started predicting the pushback.
"Nonstop complaints from agents and players, particularly visiting players. I think the Giants have concerns about their top prospects playing on artificial turf," Slusser told CBS13 based on her own reporting.
Sutter Health Park's existing grass field was partially ripped up on Monday, as captured by CBS13 crews on-site at the stadium; however, the team would not confirm why by the publishing of this story.
The River Cats' team leadership and team owner Vivek Ranadive, who also owns the Sacramento Kings, also did not respond to questions including how this change in plans could impact the River Cats or how their grounds team plans to now maintain the field to accommodate both teams.
It comes as Major League upgrades are underway for the two teams that will now be roommates for their freshman season sharing Sutter Health Park.