The Athletics will play on natural grass in Sacramento next year and not on the originally planned synthetic surface at Sutter Health Park.
The team announced in April 2023 that it would move from Oakland to a new stadium in Las Vegas.
In April, the club announced that it will be based in Sacramento from 2025 to 2027, while the new stadium in Nevada is built.
The stadium in Sacramento is also home to the River Cats, AAA affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
MLB had said artificial turf would be installed there, in preparation for a schedule that could be 153 regular-season games in 186 days.
It can get up to 46 degrees Celsius in the summer in Sacramento, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the major league players’ union had expressed concern.
“Given the players’ clear preference for natural turf, and having studied with the MLBPA the potential risks and benefits of natural turf, vis-à-vis artificial, there is widespread agreement to move forward with natural turf,” MLB said in a statement Monday.
The A’s will begin the local portion of their schedule on March 31, against the Chicago Cubs.
Sutter Health Park has approximately 10,500 seats.
“We play on synthetic, so I wasn’t worried about player safety,” Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said by text message. That said, I’m not a fan of artificial turf outdoors, so I’m happy with the decision.”
Las Vegas will be the organization’s fourth home: it was based in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954 and in Kansas City from 1955 to 1967, before moving to Oakland.
Sutter Health Park opened in 2000.
A new locker room is being built for the A’s, with a training room.
The dugouts will be enlarged, the bullpens will be rearranged and a new black surface will be put in place, as players have raised concerns about visibility while batting.
