The A's have an important wrinkle in their Sacramento plan: the heat and the field

*Photo from CNN*

   At this point, it's well known that the Oakland Athletics will spend the next few years playing in Sacramento, California as the team gets ready for a move to Las Vegas in a stadium that construction hasn't even begun on.

   Playing in a Triple A stadium for a few years is already a problem enough, as the facilities in Sacramento might not be MLB caliber just by the fact that a Triple A team plays there. However, there's another problem with Sacramento, and it's the playing surface at the stadium.

   The surface at Sacramento's Sutter Health Park will be changed from traditional grass to synthetic turf before the 2025 season. With high temperatures in Sacramento in the summer routinely in the 90s and even over 100 degrees, synthetic turf can be an issue, as the surface tends to make the ground hotter. In 2010, the temperature on the fully outdoor Busch Stadium turf reached 148 degrees due to the heat and melted the cleats of outfielder Reggie Smith.

   Commissioner Rob Manfred said a hydration element will be included in the turf, though specifics are still being determined in that regard. MLB and the MLB players association are working together in the surface selection process for Sutter Health Park.

   5 of the 30 parks in the majors have artificial turf, but they can afford it because 4 of the stadiums have retractable roofs and the other, Tropicana Field, has a dome that does not open. Rogers Centre in Toronto, Chase Field in Arizona, LoanDepot park in Florida, and Globe Life Field in Texas are the other parks with some form of artificial turf.

   In Sacramento, the A's are sharing the stadium with the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. That would necessitate roughly 156 regular season home games between the two teams from the end of March until the end of September, not taking into account any of the teams making the playoffs.

   At Sutter Health Park, a new home clubhouse is being planned for behind home plate as most clubhouses usually are. However, the visiting team clubhouse is past the outfield seats, a hallmark of the Polo Grounds in the early 1900s, where the New York Giants and Mets played originally.