The Oakland Ballers, a professional baseball team founded in 2024, has a core principle of community involvement and is immediately giving Oakland something to be proud of, according to an October 2025 Wikipedia post.

“The Ballers help bring civic pride back to a place that can really use it,” said San Quentin Rehabilitation Center resident and Oakland native Tyrone Jones. 

The Ballers are the first West Coast franchise of the Pioneer League, a group of minor league teams that has been around since 1939. The team won the 2025 league championship in only its second season.

After Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics relocated to Las Vegas, the Ballers stepped in to continue the rich baseball tradition of the East Bay community. Just as fans called the late Oakland Athletics the A’s, so fans now refer to the Ballers as the B’s. 

The team boasts many young players with diverse backgrounds. Kelsie Whitmore, for example, signed with the Oakland Ballers on April 11, 2024. She is the first female player to start a Pioneer League game.

On their way out of town, the A’s blocked the new minor league team from playing a game at the Oakland Coliseum, forcing the Ballers to find an alternative home field, according to sfchronicle.com.

Undeterred by the setback, the East Bay community rallied around their new team and its founders, Oakland natives Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel, by funding $1.6 million in upgrades to West Oakland’s historic Raimondi Field. Following the remodel, the Ballers played their opening game June 4, 2024.

“Cleaning up that old rundown park has been another step forward and points Oakland in the right direction,” said San Quentin Giants player Anthony Denard. Denard is an Oakland native, once drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays.

According to Wikipedia, the non-profit Oakland 68s, inspired by the success of the Oakland Roots soccer team, amassed more than $2 million to establish the Ballers.

“A press release for the team’s announcement included a pledge for fan ownership based around a 2024 crowd-funding campaign,” according to Wikipedia. Other notable local owners include Billie Joe Armstrong and Too $hort.

After the signing of Aaron Miles as team manager in 2025, a game was set up with Oakland’s longtime rivals, the San Jose Giants. The game, dubbed the Battle of the Bay 2.0, was where an MLB affiliate team first played against an independent league team. KPIX broadcast the Giants’ 5-2 victory.

Denard said that the Ballers and the newly remodeled 4,000-seat ballpark bring hope and positivity back to the community he grew up in, the community the A’s left behind when they moved to Las Vegas.

“It takes away the black eye from Oakland,” Denard said. “The Ballers are inspiring the next generation of baseball players to come out of a city that I love.”