Oakland A’s touting ‘serious home-field advantage,’ unique crowd for AL Wild Card Game
"When this place is packed, it can be louder than any place in the league."
OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s ranked 24th out of 30 teams in average attendance this season, but as the club prepares to host the American League Wild Card Game on Wednesday, it’s touting a unique home-field advantage that few, if any franchises can match.
The A’s sold an average of 20,521 tickets for their 81 regular season home games, but fans have already purchased more than 50,000 tickets for Wednesday’s playoff matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays.
“It’s big for our fans to see this caliber of game and matchup and for us, we’re excited to play in front of them,” shortstop Marcus Semien said.
The Oakland Coliseum attendance record of 56,310 for a baseball game was set July 21, 2018 when the A’s hosted and defeated the San Francisco Giants. With the organization expecting upward of 55,000 fans on Wednesday, the crowd could rank among the top five in the stadium’s history.
“You don’t think too much about home-field advantage in that sense with baseball whereas other sports you kind of feel it a little more sometimes but when this place gets packed, it’s a big advantage for us,” first baseman Matt Olson said.
Wednesday’s Wild Card game between the A’s and Rays is the first postseason game the Coliseum has hosted since the A’s lost Game 5 of the 2013 ALDS to the Detroit Tigers 3-0.
A’s manager Bob Melvin recalled how the home crowd reacted to former Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt’s walk-off single in Game 2 of that series, highlighting the energy the team’s fan base is able to provide in the postseason.
“This place gets really loud when it’s well-attended,” Melvin said. “With Mt. Davis open today, it can be a serious home-field advantage.”
Mt. Davis features massive sections of upper deck seating located beyond the outfield fence that is typically covered in tarps for regular season games. The A’s opened Mt. Davis twice during the 2019 regular season for games against the San Francisco Giants, both of which featured crowds of more than 47,000 fans.
“We’ve definitely had games here where we get big showings with Opening Days and the Bay Bridge Series,” Olson said. “It’s a different feeling.”
The A’s hosted a three-game series against the 96-win Rays in June as the club lost two of its three games against its Wild Card foe. Attendance dipped under 18,000 for two of those three games and peaked at 26,623 for a June 22 victory over the Rays, but the A’s are expecting a completely different atmosphere on Wednesday as the crowd will likely be twice as large as it was for their lone home win over Tampa Bay.
Semien said other players have complimented raucous A’s crowds in the past and he expects the fans attending Wednesday’s Wild Card game will leave a similar impression on a young Rays club.
“Guys on the other team get on base and they talk about how loud it is here compared to other places,” Semien said. “Home field, it means a lot. When this place is packed, it can be louder than any place in the league and that’s an advantage for the Oakland A’s.”