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The city of Oakland will present Athletics ownership with an offer to extend the team’s lease that includes a five-year contract with an opt-out after three years, as well as a requirement the team pays a $97 million “extension fee,” according to document obtained by ESPN and KGO-TV in San Francisco on Saturday.

The team and the city will meet Tuesday, the third formal meeting between the two sides since the Athletics received unanimous approval from major league owners to move the franchise to Las Vegas.

The team is hoping its stadium in Las Vegas, on the site of the soon-to-be-demolished Tropicana Casino and Resort, will be completed in time to open the 2028 season. With the Coliseum lease expiring at the end of this season, that leaves at least a three-year gap the Athletics and Major League Baseball need to fill.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has expressed a desire to have the team’s interim plans completed by early summer for future scheduling purposes, but he has said only that the team’s temporary home will be “someplace in the West.” The A’s have been in negotiations with Sacramento and Salt Lake City in addition to Oakland, and the idea of a three-year stint in Sacramento — allowing the team to keep a larger percentage of its reported $67 million in yearly local television revenue than it would in Salt Lake City — has gained traction in recent weeks.

The city is proposing the five-year lease with the opt-out after three to safeguard itself in case there are construction delays in Las Vegas or the deal falls through. According to the offer sheet obtained by ESPN and KGO-TV, the city has dropped previous requirements that called for MLB to keep the A’s name and colors in Oakland, as well as a demand that MLB guarantee the city a future expansion team.

“We are very interested in doing business, and in having the A’s stay in Oakland,” said Leigh Hanson, the city’s chief of staff. “Part of that is helping them solve this interim location challenge and just being clear in what we expect in return.”

The $97 million extension fee, a number Hanson terms nonnegotiable and will be owed by the team even if it opts out after three seasons, figures to be the biggest point of contention in the upcoming negotiations. Sources indicate the A’s, who currently pay just $1.5 million in rent to play in the Coliseum, offered a two-year deal and payments of $7 million and $10 million over the course of the lease, contending they have options after two seasons.

The $97 million — the shortfall the city says Fisher walked away from on the multibillion-dollar Howard Terminal project — is what Hanson said the city needs from the A’s to help the Oakland’s $170 million general fund deficit. She indicated the city will earmark those funds to cover public safety expenses.

The city is also asking the team to assume the costs of switching over the Coliseum playing field for the Oakland Roots SC, which plays in the United Soccer League.

The city is also asking the Athletics to sell the 50% share of its ownership in the Coliseum complex — an agreement that has been agreed to but not finalized — to a local developer to allow the city to move forward with redevelopment of the site. Both of those conditions were covered during previous negotiations and are not expected to be contentious.

“I remain committed to doing everything in my power to keep the A’s in Oakland,” Oakland mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement to ESPN. “The terms we have proposed for a lease extension at the Coliseum are clear, reasonable and achievable. Having Major League Baseball in Oakland is what is best for the owners, the league, the players and most importantly, the fans.”

In addition, the city is asking for a commitment from Major League Baseball on one of three options: (1) a one-year exclusive right to solicit ownership of a future expansion team; (2) vote to leave the A’s colors and name in Oakland, or; (3) facilitate the sale of the A’s to a local ownership group.

Oakland’s appeal to owner John Fisher and the A’s includes the $67 million annual local television revenue and the convenience of not having to uproot the team and its employees to play in a minor-league stadium in either Sacramento or Salt Lake City, two cities attempting to position themselves as viable options for MLB expansion. West Sacramento is the home of the RiverCats — the Giants‘ Triple-A affiliate owned by Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, who is a friend of Fisher’s.

“The city is putting forward a very reasonable deal,” Hanson said. “We don’t think there’s a poison pill in this deal. We feel this is an accomplishable goal, and we are going forward understanding we have a short window to execute.”

The A’s have drawn just 22,784 fans combined in their first three games of the season, their 56th in Oakland, and have dropped each game to the Guardians. The team has a run differential of minus-19 after those three games after losing 112 games last season. Thursday’s Opening Day game featured a parking lot protest staged by two local fan groups and attended by thousands who refused to buy tickets but remained in the parking lot to watch the contest on a projection screen.

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Ohtani blasts two HRs to halt 10-game drought

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Ohtani blasts two HRs to halt 10-game drought

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani hit two homers in an 11-5 win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night, emphatically ending the three-time MVP’s longest homer drought since joining the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ohtani led off the bottom of the first with his 24th homer, hammering Landen Roupp‘s fourth pitch 419 feet deep into the right-field bleachers with an exit velocity of 110.3 mph.

The slugger had been in a 10-game homer drought since June 2, going 10-for-40 in that stretch with no RBIs, although he still had an eight-game hitting streak during his power outage.

Ohtani led off the sixth with his 25th homer, sending Tristan Beck‘s breaking ball outside the strike zone into the bleachers in right. He also moved one homer behind the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh for the overall major league lead.

Dodgers fans brought him home with a standing ovation as Ohtani produced his third multihomer game of the season and the 22nd of his career.

Ohtani reached base four times and scored three runs in his first four at-bats, drawing two walks to go with his two homers.

Ohtani hadn’t played in 10 straight games without hitting a homer since 2023 in the final 10 games of his six-year tenure with the Los Angeles Angels.

Ohtani had slowed down a bit over the past two weeks after he was named the NL Player of the Month for May with a formidable performance, racking up 15 homers and 28 RBIs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Dobbins’ second win over Yanks caps ‘fun’ week

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Dobbins' second win over Yanks caps 'fun' week

BOSTON — Hunter Dobbins had quite the week.

First, he said last weekend that he would rather retire than pitch for the Yankees because his father was drafted by New York twice before being traded.

Then, he went out and beat the Yankees.

A few days after his comments about never wanting to pitch for New York, he had to defend his dad’s story about being drafted by the Yankees in response to a New York Post article that cited multiple official databases and the Yankees’ own records that couldn’t confirm Lance Dobbins ever played with the organization.

On Saturday night, Dobbins (4-1) followed up by going six shutout innings in Boston’s 4-3 victory over New York, his second win over the Yankees in less than a week.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I’m more worried about just the win column, whether it’s against them or anybody. My job is to try and help this team win as many ballgames as we can, and pitch in meaningful playoff baseball games. That’s what I’m more focused on.”

But he realizes what it means to the fan base in this longtime rivalry, with the Red Sox fans heard chanting about the Yankees outside the park before he spoke in an interview room.

“Yeah, I love being able to perform and get those wins for the fans here,” he said. “They deserve it. It’s a great city, passionate fan base, so being able to get those wins — especially twice in one week — means a lot and looking forward to trying to build on that going forward.”

In his victory over New York last Sunday, Dobbins held the Yankees to three runs over five innings, two on a first-inning homer by Aaron Judge.

On Saturday night, Judge went 0-for-3 against him, striking out twice on curveballs.

“It was just kind of scouting,” Dobbins said of his game plan against New York’s slugger after Garrett Crochet struck him out three times in the series opener Friday.

“Crochet has an electric fastball. I can throw it hard, but the shape isn’t quite as elite,” he said. “So we knew we had better weapons to go at him with, so I felt like we did a good job of kind of keeping a balanced attack throughout the order.”

Dobbins struck out five and gave up only two singles Saturday.

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Rockies have worst 70-game mark since 1899

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Rockies have worst 70-game mark since 1899

ATLANTA — Kyle Farmer just shrugged when asked about being part of a Colorado Rockies team that has the fewest wins through 70 games since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.

“We don’t care,” Farmer said after Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves left Colorado with a 13-57 record.

The Rockies have the fourth-fewest wins by any team through their first 70 decisions in a season in MLB history, and the fewest since the 1899 Spiders won 12 of their first 70 decisions. Colorado (.186 win percentage) is currently on pace to go 30-132 this season.

“I mean, there’s nothing we can do about it,” Farmer said. “It is what it is. We’ve just got to show up tomorrow and play. There’s nothing you can really say about it except that if it happens, it happens.”

The Rockies made more inglorious history by setting a franchise nine-inning record with 19 strikeouts. That’s a lot of futility for one team to absorb in one day.

The 19 strikeouts by Braves pitchers also set an Atlanta record for a nine-inning game. Spencer Strider recorded 13 strikeouts in six innings, followed by relievers Rafael Montero and Dylan Lee, who combined for six more whiffs.

The only bright spot for the Rockies was the encouraging start by rookie right-hander Chase Dollander, a native of Evans, Georgia, who allowed four runs, three earned, in six innings.

The Rockies have 10 fewer wins than the Chicago White Sox, who have the second-worst record in the majors at 23-48.

Dollander said “just having a neutral mindset” is the key to remaining positive through a season already filled with low points for the team.

“Don’t ride the roller coaster,” Dollander said. “You know, there’s going to be lots of ups and downs in this game. This game is really hard. So it’s just, you know, staying neutral and we just keep going.”

Dollander was the No. 9 overall pick in the 2023 summer draft. Among other top young players on the team are catcher Hunter Goodman, who might return to Atlanta for the All-Star Game on July 15, and outfielders Jordan Beck and Brenton Doyle.

“You know we’re going to have our time,” Dollander said. “I mean, it’s just one of those things that you kind of learn as you go. I’ve been very fortunate to be here for a little bit now, and I can help us going forward.”

The 34-year-old Farmer said one of his jobs is to help the younger players endure the losses.

“For sure, keeping guys accountable and teaching them the right way to do stuff,” said Farmer, the first baseman whose double off Strider was one of only four hits for the Rockies.

“Keeping their heads up and they’ve got to show up each day and play, no matter our record. It’s your job and you worked your whole life to get here. Enjoy it. This is a great opportunity for a young guy to show what they can do.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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