CHIP MAXSON, PRESIDENT, SACRAMENTO RIVER CATS

Triple-A Sacramento rose to the challenge of hosting 151 River Cats plus Athletics games in 182 days at Sutter Health Park

- by J.J. COOPER

In 2025, the staff of the Sacramento River Cats pulled off something that seemed impossible. Somehow, they managed to become the temporary home of the major league Athletics, while also hosting a Triple-A team in the same ballpark.

Among the many remarkable aspects of the River Cats’ year, there’s one that seems the most improbable: The field the River Cats and Athletics shared all season long was made of grass.

The Sutter Health Park field was never resodded. It survived days in the 40s and 50s in April and high 90s in July and August. It weathered more than 150 home dates and still looked full, lush and green in late September.

The Sacramento turf was the subject of many discussions. The worry was that a natural grass field would wither and die without getting the regenerative breaks that normally occur when a baseball team hits the road.

With a schedule that had the Triple-A River Cats playing at home on the weeks that the big league A’s were on the road, and vice versa, the grass would never have time to recover.