Athletics make return trip to San Francisco and face Giants for a different Bay Bridge Series

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Athletics are back in the Bay area. For at least three days anyway.

More than a year after announcing intentions to leave their long-time home in Oakland to play at a minor league facility in Sacramento while a new stadium in Las Vegas is being built, the A’s made the journey south to face the San Francisco Giants in a three-game series that began Friday.

For Athletics general manager David Forst, that meant a trip across the Bay Bridge that used to take 20 minutes turned into a 90-mile afternoon drive.

“I thought I would have an easier commute today than I’ve had earlier, but the bridge traffic is terrible,” Forst joked while sitting in the visitor’s dugout at Oracle Park.

Forst chose to speak to reporters in order to prevent manager Mark Kotsay from having to field all the questions about the A’s return to the area.

The annual games between the two Northern California opponents was originally dubbed the Bay Bridge Series, although a few fans attending Friday’s game wore shirts declaring that it is now the Highway 80 Battle of the Bay.

Despite the A’s move to the state capital, Forst believes the inter-league rivalry between the teams will continue.

“A’s-Giants, I think, will be sort of the same rivalry for a while,” Forst said. “There’s obviously generations of fans who will see A’s and Giants and think of it the same way, but it’s definitely different. We’re not right across the Bay.

“There are enough people remaining who have seen it this way for 15-20 years. (Giants manager and former A’s skipper Bob Melvin) is on the other side. Our coaches all played in part of this rivalry, so yeah.”

In years past, players from both teams needed only to make a quick drive across the Bay Bridge to play in the Bay Bridge Series. This year, the A’s were returning from a road trip to Los Angeles and flew into Oakland late Thursday and are staying at a hotel in San Francisco.

“The rivalry, it’s been fun to be a part of,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “Having Bob on the other side isn’t necessarily a rivalry. I look at him as a mentor. I look at him as a friend. Do I want to win? Yes. Does he want to win? Absolutely. In terms of it not being the Bay Bridge Series, there’s still a lot of excitement around this series.”

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