Between the eastern and western sides of San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate City and The Town, the Port of Oakland and San Francisco’s China Basin, sits a dividing landmark: the Bay Bridge. This bridge has served as more than just a way of commuting between Oakland and San Francisco. For the past three decades it has been the symbol of an annual baseball rivalry known as the Bay Bridge Series or Battle of the Bay between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants.
The Series gets underway on Friday night with three games at Oracle Park in San Francisco. There will also be a three-game series in Oakland towards the end of this 60-game season. What will happen in this year’s Battle of the Bay?
The teams have had their series of rivalries dating back to their origins as the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics in the early 1900’s. This regional rivalry became apparent in 1989, when the two teams met for the first time as Bay Area teams in the World Series.
Amidst all the hype and baseball buzz however, on October 17, 1989 the region was rocked by a greater force than the A’s and Giants’ bats; a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. This happened just moments before game three of the Series got underway at Candlestick Park, disrupting the pregame telecast. The quake killed 67 people and injured 3,000 turning Bay Area ball players and fans into petrified yet stoic heroes in the recovery efforts. It even caused the symbol of the series, the Bay Bridge, to partially collapse.
The Series resumed 10 days later, when the A’s would go on to sweep the Giants and claim their fourth World Series title in Oakland. Oakland and the East Bay are often seen as San Francisco’s stepchild. The A’s success in winning four World Series titles in Oakland, however, has given A’s fans bragging rights when it comes to the team’s history and trophy case.
While the Giants didn’t win their first World Series in San Francisco until 2010, they too have a rich history in the Bay Area fielding the likes of baseball legends Willie Mays, Juan Marichal, and Barry Bonds. They also managed to dominate baseball this past decade winning the World Series two more times in 2012 and 2014. As of recently Giants fans have had the bragging rights when it comes to reaching baseball’s ultimate destiny. The A’s, however, have been significantly more successful in the past couple of seasons, having back-to-back 97-win seasons resulting in playoff berths.
The Giants have been in rebuilding since their last playoff appearance in 2016. Currently they sit in last place in the NL West with a record of 8-12. Meanwhile the A’s go into the series as one of the hottest, toughest teams in baseball at 13-6 with hopes set on winning their first World Series since 1989. Of course, anything can happen in the Bay Bridge Series and since 2018 each team has had an extra incentive to be competitive.
That incentive is a trophy known as “The Bridge” which was introduced by the A’s and Giants in conjunction with their TV affiliate NBC Sports Bay Area in 2018. It is awarded annually to the winner of the Bay Bridge Series. The Series has always seen shocking results making it hard to truly predict who will take home “The Bridge”, even based on the way the teams are playing now. Despite the Giants being the inferior team last season they had the A’s number as they notched out a 3-1 series win. Conversely the A’s managed to win the series 3-1 in 2016 despite having one of their most dismal seasons in a decade.
Will the A’s extend their 77-67 all-time record against the Giants or will the Giants pull off another upset and maintain “The Bridge” on their side of the Bay?
