A’s bring a six-game Vegas preview to Las Vegas Ballpark, starting Monday

The Athletics’ regular-season trip to Las Vegas begins Monday with a six-game stretch meant to feel like the franchise’s next chapter, even if the full relocation is still ahead. For this week’s “Las Vegas Series,” the A’s will play three games against the Milwaukee Brewers from June 8 to June 10, then return for three against the Colorado Rockies from June 12 to June 14, all at Las Vegas Ballpark.

Las Vegas Ballpark, in Downtown Summerlin, is currently the home of the Las Vegas Aviators, the Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate. The venue sits only a few miles west of the site of the club’s future ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip, with construction on that new park described as underway and expected to be ready for the 2028 season. MLB’s ballpark information also emphasizes the stadium’s “festival-like” layout, including a cashless operating model, which is a notable contrast to the Athletics’ traditional home routines.

This will mark a rare moment for Nevada and a brief return to the history of major league baseball there. According to MLB, these are the first regular-season games the Athletics have played in Nevada since 1996, when they hosted six games at Cashman Field due to renovations at Oakland Coliseum. Earlier this year, the A’s also played a pair of exhibition games against the Los Angeles Angels in Las Vegas, using Las Vegas Ballpark as a setting to introduce the product to a new local rhythm.

On the field, the Athletics are arriving in the middle of the AL West race but with enough distance between them and the standings leaders to frame the trip as more than a novelty. MLB reported the A’s at 31-34 entering play on Monday, standing just 2 1/2 games out of first place. The club’s storyline is centered on a young group of position players, including second-year first baseman Nick Kurtz and catcher Shea Langeliers, both described by MLB as being in a strong position to earn their first career All-Star selections later this summer.

Ownership and marketing are also part of the reason the A’s are here now. Athletics owner John Fisher, speaking in March before the team’s exhibition games at Las Vegas Ballpark, tied the effort to reaching younger fans, saying, “It all starts with youth,” and drawing comparisons to how other Las Vegas franchises built their followings. The Athletics’ presence in Nevada before the completion of their new stadium underscores that the relocation is being treated as a long arc, not a switch flipped on a single calendar date.

The offseason decision to move to Las Vegas is already official. MLB’s own relocation statement from November 2023 said the owners approved the move, with the new ballpark set to open for the 2028 season on the Tropicana site on the Las Vegas Strip. With that timeline in mind, this week’s series functions as both a test of logistics and an introduction to a potential permanent audience, as the Athletics face two established National League opponents, the Brewers and Rockies, in back-to-back three-game segments.