Ruminations on Opening Day

Does Culture Matter?

By Roberto Santiago 

MLB Opening Day used to be a personal holiday. From the time ESPN started showing games on the first day of the season, I would skip school to watch 12 hours of baseball starting at 10:00 AM. I specifically remember April 3rd, 2000. It was my little brother’s birthday and we had made Opening Day a celebratory tradition since he was six years old. I think I had public speaking and statistics classes that day but I stayed home to watch Ken Griffey Jr.’s first game with the Cincinnati Reds. Later, my brother, my mom and I braved the cold spring night at the Coliseum, where my mom sweet-talked the security guard into letting her bring in a thermos of spiked hot cocoa to watch our A’s. I was excited to see my favorite Billy Beane reclamation projects like John Jaha (who had won 1999 Comeback Player of the Year) and Doug Jones (who threw three increasingly slower change ups). Kevin Appier (the bee keeper) lost to Hideo Nomo, with the A’s falling 7-4 in the opener of a season that would see them make the playoffs for the first time since 1992. The A’s went on to make the playoffs 11 times between 2000 and 2020, but only got past the first round once.

I recently wrote an article about new Ballers president and former Giants executive, Yeshayah Goldfarb. There was a question I asked that still nags at me. This essay didn’t fit with the article, but I know many of you are or were A’s fans, so I hope you’ll indulge me in this bit of fancy. This isn’t reporting, this is wild speculation. This is me being a columnist.

As I read through interviews with Goldfarb and thought back on the Bay Area baseball landscape from 2000-2020, one thing stood out for me: culture. I don’t know Beane. I’ve never stepped foot inside the A’s clubhouse. Everything I know, I know as a fan. As I noted in my article, Beane’s relationship with the rest of the front office, the scouts, the manager, and ownership is depicted in Moneyball and other reporting as being combative. It’s likely that the vibe around the franchise has changed since 2002, as Beane has become the unquestioned tone-setter for baseball ops. But as a fan, I can’t shake how the portrayal of Beane sits in such stark contrast to what I have learned about Goldfarb. 

As I wrote in my profile of Goldfarb, 

While Beane is portrayed as using analytics as a blunt object, Goldfarb used them like a laser. He employed his natural tendency towards connection and relationship building to his advantage. For Goldfarb, getting scouts and decision makers to buy in meant tailoring the presentation of statistics in a way that supported the work the scouts were already doing. He did this by combining scouting insights with data driven profiles, ensuring that numbers always had context that explained the why behind how the numbers could be useful. 

Goldfarb’s approach was a collaborative slow burn compared to Beane’s supernova. In the end, in that same period, the A’s suffered years of heartbreak and the Giants won three World Series.

As a fan, it’s hard to see this contrast in styles and success and not wonder if culture played a part. From Goldfarb’s insights on Brian Sabean and Bill Neukom and the collaborative, inclusive environment they created, it feels like that could be the difference between the two clubs over that time. Could it be that simply being collegial can be the x-factor? Is kindness truly king? Do nice guys actually finish…first?

I asked Goldfarb. He isn’t buying it. “I’ve never worked for the A’s,” he demurs, "I've never been in their front office.” He refuses to bite on my armchair psychology line of thought. He and Beane agree that the playoffs are a crapshoot. “You can beat any team on any night. And, it’s not luck, but there’s something to playing well at the right time,” Goldfarb offers. “The A’s had some unbelievable seasons during that time and the nature of the playoffs…” he trails off for just a second. “I was at the Jeter game. It’s just the way baseball works.” 

While he won’t hazard an opinion on the impact of front office cohesion on winning, Goldfarb does acknowledge another factor that differentiated the A’s and Giants over those 20 years: keeping homegrown talent. While the A’s are famous for acting as a feeder system for the rest of the league, the Giants kept their core together. Goldfarb’s research indicates that teams with more homegrown stars have an advantage in the postseason. “My theory is that a lot of these players have grown up in the same system and have often won together in the minor leagues. So when it comes to a playoff situation, there's a closeness that can only exist from going through fire together.”

Maybe that’s the answer. Maybe it’s as simple as re-signing the stars you develop while supplementing them with the free agent gems you unearth by mining data. That’s how Goldfarb found players like Gregor Blanco and Yusmeiro Petit. Beane was a wiz at finding useful, undervalued players. The Sabean, Tidrow, Goldfarb-led Giants did similar work with similar methods but seem to have had the secret sauce of top-to-bottom buy in. (And a little more money.) Was it culture that won the day? I don’t know and Goldfarb won’t say, but I have my suspicions.

For their part, the Ballers have adopted the homegrown approach. Since their inception, the team has pursued players with ties to the East Bay. They have also done their best to re-sign players they’ve developed without hampering their movement to higher levels of minor league ball. Despite restrictive Pioneer League eligibility rules, the Ballers 2025 championship team featured nine players from their 2024 team, including fan favorites Tyler Lozano and closer Connor Sullivan.

Opening Day has continued to be a tradition for my family. In 2024, we found ourselves in a new park with a new team, with Opening Day in June instead of April. Then we were back again a few days later to see Kelsie Whitmore. Then we were back again. And again. And again.

Until our team, Oakland’s team, starts up, we’ll look forward to Tuesday’s Battle of the Bay 2.1 between the Ballers and the San Jose Giants; two clubs who made history last year by playing the first modern game between independent and affiliated teams. Both went on to win championships.

MLB Opening Day doesn’t mean what it once did for us as a family. Maybe it’s the same for you. Regardless, it does mark the time in a way that will never lose significance. Viva el béisbol, viva los Peloteros, y FJF.

Roberto Santiago is a third generation Berkeley boy currently raising the fourth generation. Roberto’s writing has appeared in Latina, Parents, and various online outlets. A lifelong baseball fan, Roberto worked briefly with the Boston Red Sox and once hit an RBI single off Spaceman Lee on a 2-2 changeup. It was his only at bat ever in a real baseball game. Find him on Instagram.