Add The California Post on Google WEST SACRAMENTO –– During a break in the action Tuesday night, the Athletics tried some simple between-innings entertainment.
Their in-game stadium host grabbed an A’s fan for an interview that flashed on the scoreboard. At one point, the green-clad patron referred to young A’s third baseman Max Muncy — not to be confused with the Dodgers’ veteran third baseman of the exact same name — as being the “real Max Muncy” on the field during that night’s game.
Immediately, a shower of boos came raining from an unmistakably pro-Dodgers crowd.
“Here,” manager Dave Roberts had quipped the night before, “I think we got market share [in the stands].”
Indeed, during this weeklong California road trip, the Dodgers have not often felt like the road team.
Waves of blue washed across Petco Park over the weekend, with Dodgers fans staging such an invasion of the Padres’ home park that even their intradivision rivals couldn’t help notice.
“It was like the most I’ve ever seen Dodger fans in our stadium –– 90% Dodgers fans,” Padres pitcher and San Diego native Joe Musgrove told the San Diego Union-Tribune, only somewhat exaggerating.
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During this three-game set in Sacramento, the crowd split has legitimately seemed that stark, with Dodger Nation turning the 12,000-seat minor league park temporarily serving as the A’s home venue into a scene best described as Dodger Stadium North.
“Dodger fans showed up,” shortstop Mookie Betts proudly stated.
“It’s kind of always like that for us,” Muncy — the Dodgers’ one — added with a smile.
Muncy is not wrong. During their decade-long run of dominance, Dodgers fans have routinely traveled well to road cities across MLB. Road support has only been enhanced in recent years, with the addition of Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki taking the dynamic to a different level.
This year, the Dodgers are not only MLB’s distant leader in average home attendance (50,872 per game) but also are attracting the largest gates in road games as well (36,437, just edging the Cubs and Phillies).
“Ever since we got Sho and Yama and those guys, it’s been double, almost,” Muncy said. “It’s fun to go out there every night and know we are going to have support.”
Still, on this trip, the crowd takeovers have felt particularly pronounced.
In San Diego, Dodgers fans drowned out chants of “Let Go Padres” every time the Petco Park scoreboard tried to prompt them. Here in Sacramento, where the Dodgers are playing for the first time in their history, both locally based and visiting fans have packed the ballpark — where they’ve been gleefully treated to another series win and stayed late Tuesday to serenade Roberts with postgame ovations after he collected his 1,000th career win.
“That’s the beauty of Dodger fans,” Muncy said. “They travel. They love us. They want to see us play.”
