Oakland’s getting a new baseball team – and it’s got some serious star power behind it.
Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and rap legend Too $hort are stepping up to bring America’s pastime back to a city that’s still hurting from losing the A’s.
They’re joining forces with the Oakland Ballers, a brand-new independent team that’ll start playing in 2025.
“This is all about bringing families to a ball game,” Armstrong said. “After the A’s left, the town was heartbroken. The Ballers are going to bring good vibes back to Oakland and the broader East Bay.”
He’s not just talking – he’s already taking shots at the A’s. Armstrong recently posted a photo showing an Oakland B’s logo spray-painted over an A’s symbol at Toronto’s Rogers Center.
The team’s got big plans for a new 4,000-seat stadium at Raimondi Park, just minutes from where the A’s used to play at the Coliseum.
This isn’t some corporate takeover, though. The Ballers are truly homegrown.
TV producer Bryan Carmel and entrepreneur Paul Freedman, two childhood friends from the area, founded the team. They’ve already gotten amazing support from the community – about 2,200 locals joined their first $1.2 million financing round in 2024.
“This isn’t a case of celebrities coming in to save the day,” Carmel explained. “It’s a local team, and Billie Joe and Too $hort are just some better-known locals.”
The Ballers will play in the Pioneer League, which partners with MLB but isn’t directly affiliated with any major league teams. Still, several players from the league have made it to the big leagues.
For Oakland baseball fans, it’s a chance to keep their city’s rich baseball tradition alive – just with a fresh twist and some hometown heroes leading the way.
