A’s owner gives Vegas update, points at Oakland
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Tim Keown, ESPN Senior Writer
The Oakland Athletics have submitted their application for relocation to Major League Baseball, owner John Fisher told ESPN on Thursday, putting the team one step closer to a future in Las Vegas. The fate of the team now resides in the hands of MLB’s owners.
MLB’s three-man relocation committee, consisting of Kansas City Royals chief executive officer John Sherman, Philadelphia Phillies CEO John Middleton and Milwaukee Brewers chairman Mark Attanasio, will review the application and make a recommendation to commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB’s eight-man executive council. Ultimate approval requires a three-quarters vote of the 30 team owners. No vote has been scheduled.
Fisher, in his first national interview since purchasing the A’s in 2005, attributed the decision to move the franchise to a number of factors — primarily, the inability of the city of Oakland to make good on its promise to provide public funding for the offsite infrastructure at Howard Terminal, a $12 billion, 55-acre waterfront ballpark/real estate project.
“In the end, we concluded that the city had not raised sufficient money to cover the commitments it made,” Fisher said. “We also had a deadline imposed by the collective bargaining agreement from a year and a half ago that required the A’s have a binding agreement on a new stadium by January of 2024 or we would lose our revenue sharing, which would be hugely detrimental to the organization.”
A spokesperson for Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao pushed back on Fisher’s assertions Thursday night, saying the city had raised $475 million and was just $101 million short of reaching its goal. In addition, two grants totaling another $65 million are due to pay out in the next month, bringing the city to within $36 million of its share.
The A’s lease on the Oakland Coliseum, the team’s home since 1968, expires after next season, and the Las Vegas stadium will not open until 2028 at the earliest. Fisher said he is unsure where the team will play in the interim, adding that he’d be open to an extension of the Coliseum lease.
The A’s have the lowest payroll in baseball and have not signed a prominent free agent during Fisher’s 18-year tenure. They are in the midst of one of the worst seasons in big league history, at 37-91. After winning 97 games in 2021, the A’s tore down a young and promising team, trading All Stars Matt Olson, Sean Murphy and Matt Chapman before the start of the 2022 season.
That will change once the team moves to Las Vegas, Fisher promised, citing the proposed $1.5 billion in private financing for a 33,000-seat ballpark on nine acres on The Strip.
“We would not be making that kind of investment if we weren’t planning on putting a team on the field that can win the World Series,” Fisher said. “We understand that Vegas wants a winner and demands a winner.”
Fisher and Lew Wolff purchased the A’s in 2005 for a reported $180 million. Forbes estimates the current value of the team at nearly $1.2 billion. Fisher on Thursday reiterated a claim he made earlier in the week to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, saying the A’s lost $40 million last year alone. Given the available revenue streams, especially from local and national media rights, the figure raised eyebrows among sports economists.
“I’m the one writing the checks,” Fisher said, “so I think I know what things cost.”
Fisher has been a target of the fans’ wrath in Oakland since announcing the Las Vegas plan in April. Green T-shirts with “SELL” written across the chest in white are prominent at every game, as are chants for Fisher to sell the team.
Asked what he thinks of the protests, Fisher said, “I take it personally, as I should. It’s my decision to move the team. The decision was mine. And so I understand and appreciate the way fans feel about that decision.”
All the Toronto Blue Jays had to do after losing an 18-inning epic in Game 3 of the 2025 World Series was bounce back quickly — and beat starting pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4.
Well, they did just that — and the Fall Classic is tied at 2-2. With the series sure to head back to Toronto, what will happen in the final game in L.A.? Game 5’s winner will be one victory from a ring; the loser will be one loss from heartbreak.
Follow all the action — from live analysis during the game to our postgame takeaways — right here.
Key links: World Series schedule, results
Live analysis
Gamecast: Follow the action pitch-by-pitch here
The Minnesota Twins are hiring former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton to be the team’s new manager, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Wednesday.
Shelton, who was fired on May 8 as the Pirates quickly slipped into last place in the National League Central, will replace Rocco Baldelli, who was fired by Minnesota on Sept. 29.
The 55-year-old Shelton was the bench coach for the Twins in 2018 and 2019 under two different managers, Paul Molitor and Baldelli.
New York Yankees hitting coach James Rowson, who held that role for the Twins under both Molitor and Baldelli before leaving to become bench coach of the Miami Marlins in 2020, was also one of the finalists. Former Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais and current Chicago Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty reportedly were in the mix, too.
The Twins are one of nine MLB teams who have changed managers this year.
Shelton was named manager of the Pirates in November 2019 as part of a franchise-wide reset by owner Bob Nutting. It was his first major league managing job after serving as a coach in various capacities in Tampa Bay, Toronto and Minnesota, and he went 306-440 in his five-plus seasons with Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh won less than 40% of its games in Shelton’s first three seasons before taking a step forward in 2023 when it won 76 games. Paul Skenes‘ arrival in 2024 gave the franchise another jolt, and the Pirates were in playoff contention until an August swoon. In 2025, the Pirates’ offense under Shelton languished near the bottom of the NL.
The Twins, who were expected to contend for the AL Central title this season, faltered in June and became active at the trade deadline, sending away 10 players while cutting $26 million from the payroll. The team went 23-43 after the All-Star break to finish fourth in the division with a 70-92 mark.
It was the fourth-worst record in the major leagues and their worst mark since 2016.
Attendance swooned at Target Field this season, with the Twins finishing with an 81-home game total of a little more than 1.7 million tickets sold, their lowest number in a non-pandemic season since 2000, when they played at the Metrodome and finished 69-93.
Fans mostly have directed their disdain toward ownership, with deep frustration over cost cutting that came after the 2023 breakthrough Baldelli led with the end of a record 18-game postseason losing streak and the club’s first win of a playoff series in 21 years.
Executive chair Joe Pohlad and his family members put the franchise up for sale in 2024, but decided in August to keep control and bring on two new investment groups for an infusion of cash to help pay down debt.
The New York Post first reported news on Shelton’s hiring by the Twins.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Jesse Rogers
LOS ANGELES — Blue Jays designated hitter George Springer won’t start Game 5 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, but Toronto manager John Schneider indicated Springer could be available off the bench.
Springer, who also missed Game 4 after leaving Game 3 early with right side discomfort, did some hitting in the batting cage and some running Wednesday.
“George is feeling better,” Schneider said Wednesday afternoon. “I think better than he expected to feel, better than we expected him to feel, which is saying a lot.”
Bo Bichette will serve as the team’s DH in place of Springer in Game 5 while Isiah Kiner-Falefa will start at second base.
The 36-year-old Springer left Monday’s contest after taking an awkward swing in the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ eventual 18-inning victory. He is 3-for-11 with two runs scored in the World Series, which is tied 2-2.
He has been a key member of the Blue Jays’ postseason run but is likely to watch at least one more game before the Series takes a day off Thursday. With the extra time to heal, it means Springer could be ready for Friday’s Game 6 in Toronto.
“He’s had an unbelievable year, and I think that he has done a phenomenal job of kind of setting the tone for us, not just at the plate but in the clubhouse and keeping tabs on guys,” Schneider said. “It’s been fun to watch him. It’s been really fun after a tough year last year for him and us.”
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