A’s will have fans at home games in 2020 … sort of

The Oakland A’s are putting fans in their seats for the 2020 MLB season, but not in the conventional way.

No, the Oakland A’s aren’t known for having fans in the seats. However, 2020 is nothing if not weird.

Despite Major League Baseball keeping fans out of the stands during the COVID-19 pandemic, the A’s aren’t giving up on having a few faces in their familiar seats. According to Aiden Gonzalez of ESPN, Oakland is offering its fans an opportunity.

The Oakland A’s will have fans in the stands after all

For $49, fans can have cardboard cutouts of themselves at games in the Oakland Coliseum. For $129, your cutout will be placed in foul territory, and a ball hitting your cutout will be sent to you.

The best part? All proceeds go to local charities.

This is a nice job by the A’s, who deservedly got skewered earlier this year when owner John Fisher announced the team would not be paying minor leaguers their salaries of $400 per week starting in June. This would have essentially amounted to $1 million, making Fisher one of the cheapest people imaginable. Eventually, after enough public pressure, Fisher relented.

With only 30 games on the docket, there won’t be many opportunities for your cutout to get slammed by a foul ball. Still, one would imagine there’s some extra fun in rooting for it to happen, all while hoping the A’s can make the postseason for the third consecutive year.

If the Baseball Gods never have you in mind, well, you donated to a great cause. There are worse ways to spend money.