NL West
San Francisco Giants
Oracle Park · San Francisco
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team in the National League West division.
Interleague Rivalry
Giants–Athletics
The Bay Bridge Series
The cross-bay rivalry between the San Francisco Giants and the Athletics, named for the span linking their cities. It was defined by a dramatic 1989 World Series and later sustained through annual interleague play.
The Rivalry
The rivalry's Bay Area roots took hold after the Giants moved west to San Francisco in 1958 and the Athletics settled in Oakland in 1968. Their defining collision came in the 1989 World Series, the first cross-bay Fall Classic and a matchup forever marked by tragedy. With regular interleague play arriving in 1997, the clubs began meeting annually in games dubbed the Bay Bridge Series. The series carried genuine local pride: the Giants represented cosmopolitan San Francisco while the Athletics drew on a blue-collar Oakland identity. The rivalry effectively closed as a Bay Area institution when the Athletics began relocating away from Oakland, with the final Bay Bridge Series game played in August 2024.
What's at Stake
For decades the series was less about standings than civic identity, pitting San Francisco against Oakland in an annual cross-bay test of regional pride. With the Athletics departing the Bay Area, the matchup's local meaning has faded, lending recent games an elegiac quality. What remains on the line is legacy and memory: a rivalry rooted in a shared body of water, a landmark bridge and the unforgettable 1989 World Series.
Famous Moments
- 1989 — The Athletics and Giants met in the first Bay Bridge World Series.
- 1989 — The Loma Prieta earthquake struck just before Game 3, killing dozens and forcing an 11-day suspension.
- 1989 — Oakland swept the Series 4-0, winning its first title since 1974.
- 1997 — The clubs played their first regular-season interleague game, launching the annual Bay Bridge Series.
- 2024 — The final Bay Bridge Series game was played in August, a 4-2 Giants win, as the Athletics prepared to leave Oakland.
The Two Teams
Plan the Trip
A Bay Bridge Series trip means cities linked by one iconic span. San Francisco's Oracle Park sits on the waterfront at China Basin, with kayakers chasing splash-hit home runs and the bay as a backdrop. With the Athletics now playing at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, experiencing the rivalry's two homes together is a piece of baseball history, making any preserved memory of the trip especially meaningful.
Frequently Asked Questions: Giants–Athletics
The two teams first met in 1989. The cross-bay rivalry between the San Francisco Giants and the Athletics, named for the span linking their cities. It was defined by a dramatic 1989 World Series and later sustained through annual interleague play.
For decades the series was less about standings than civic identity, pitting San Francisco against Oakland in an annual cross-bay test of regional pride. With the Athletics departing the Bay Area, the matchup's local meaning has faded, lending recent games an elegiac quality. What remains on the line is legacy and memory: a rivalry rooted in a shared body of water, a landmark bridge and the unforgettable 1989 World Series.
Yes — they meet in an interleague series during the 2026 MLB season.
San Francisco Giants host at Oracle Park in San Francisco; Oakland Athletics play at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento.