OAKLAND – It was a sparkling 69 degrees at game time today at the O.co Coliseum, where the Oakland Athletics entertained another middling crowd on $2 Wednesday as they sought to further reduce their magic number for winning a second AL West title in a row.
A's owner Lew Wolff was in a chipper mood, having vented his frustration over the team's perennial attendance woes the previous day to USA TODAY Sports, calling them "depressing.''
Oakland fans demonstrated their excitement over the team's impending playoff return, snapping up the available tickets for the possible three games of the division series and prompting the A's to remove the tarps from the grandstand to increase capacity to 48,146.
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But even with a division crown within grasp, both of the first two games of the current series against the Los Angeles Angels drew less than 19,000, continuing a long-established trend for a team that ranks 25th in the majors in attendance.
Wolff – whose attempts to move the team south to San Jose have stalled while waiting for Major League Baseball's approval – believes Oakland simply can't support a team.
"I think over the course of the year we get our market. I just think the size of it is not large enough,'' Wolff told reporters.
"Let's take today. Here's a gorgeous day. If we were in downtown Oakland, or somebody (at work) said, 'Hey, let's go to the game,' I don't think they'll necessarily take the elevator down, go to the garage, get their car, drive out.
"Then there's the corporations. Tampa and the Raiders are facing the same thing. There's very little corporation base locally. It's smaller than it used to be.''
PLUMBING BUMMER: A's evacuate dugout after spill
Boisterous, enthusiastic crowds turned out for the playoffs last year, when the A's took the Detroit Tigers to five games in the Division Series before bowing out.
But the club's openly stated desire to leave, its underwhelming performance before 2012 and its outdated venue – the 45-year-old O.co Coliseum – have conspired to suppress attendance.
The playing field at the Coliseum, the only major league facility that doubles as an NFL stadium, is still sporting the yard lines from Sunday's Raiders-Jacksonville Jaguars game.
To add further insult, A's players and coaches had to seek higher ground during Tuesday's game as a toilet backup spewed sewage on the dugout floor. The incident came three months after a massive backup forced the A's and visiting Seattle Mariners to leave their clubhouses.
Wolff did not want to harp on the latest Coliseum embarrassment, pointing out the folks who work there are doing their best with what they have.
Asked whether he had plumbers at the ready, Wolff jovially responded, "You're looking at him.''
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