To start with news elsewhere, Merrill Kelly “won” the battle of the ex-Diamondbacks today. Pitching for the Rangers, he held former colleagues, now Mariners, Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor hitless against him, as they went 0-for-6 against Kelly. Texas prevailed 6-4 in eleven innings, the pair going a combined 1-for-10. Suarez had a particularly rough day, three strikeouts in his 0-for-5. We may have got out from him just before one of his cold streaks. Back with Arizona, two infield promotions on the minor-league front, Tommy Troy and Ivan Melendez are now both up at Triple-A Reno. If they perform well there (and especially in the latter’s case, that’s an “if”!), they could well debut for Arizona in 2026.
There were 8,730 people at last night’s game in Sutter Health Park. According to Wikipedia, park capacity “including fixed seats, lawn and standing room” is a smidge over fourteen thousand. If so, it appears there have been precisely zero sellouts so far this season, despite the place holding fewer than Sloan Park, the spring training home in Phoenix of the Cubs. The closest the Athletics have come was 12,322 for an July 4th game against their nearest neighbors, the Giants. There have been some road games with lower attendance than that. Unsurprisingly, the series against the Rays, in the even smaller Steinbrenner Field was one, but a White Sox series and one game in Miami also came in under eleven thousand.
The smallest crowd for the Athletics so far is a little under eight thousand (7,950), a week after the season high, against the Blue Jays on July 11. That’s less than the lowest attendance for the Rays in their “fun size” park, which was 8,372 against the Twins. But the Athletics average is actually up about a thousand per game, compared to the same period last year, when the boycott in Oakland was in effect. The biggest drop in attendance this year? Not the Rays, despite the change in park. The Cardinals have lost even more, down over 7,500 per game, and our siblings have noticed. Arizona are currently up 2,147… but I’ve a feeling there won’t be many walk-ups at Chase the rest of the season.