Bay Bridge Series

Oakland Athletics Giants Logo San Francisco Giants
Statistics
Regular season series	50-46 Athletics

The Bay Bridge Series, or the Battle of the Bay, is the name of a series of baseball games played between—and the rivalry of—Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics of the American League and San Francisco Giants of the National League. The series takes its name from the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge which links the cities of Oakland and San Francisco. Although competitive, the regional rivalry between the A's and Giants is considered a friendly one with mostly mutual companionship between the fans, as opposed to Cubs–White Sox, or Mets–Yankees games where animosity runs high. Hats displaying both teams on the cap are sold from vendors at the games, and once in a while the teams both dress in uniforms from an historic era of their franchises. The series is also occasionally referred to as the "BART Series" for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system that links Oakland to San Francisco. However, the name "BART Series" has never been popular beyond a small selection of history books and national broadcasters and has fallen out of favor. Bay Area locals almost exclusively refer to the rivalry as the "Bay Bridge Series" of the "Battle of the Bay."

Originally, the term described a series of exhibition games played between the two clubs after the conclusion of spring training, immediately prior to the start of the regular season. It was first used to refer to the 1989 World Series which the Athletics won and the first time both teams had met since they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, it also refers to games played between the teams during the regular season since the commencement of Interleague play in 1997. Through 2013, the A's have won 50 games, and the Giants have won 46.

History prior to Bay Area move

The Giants and Athletics met in the 1905, 1911 and 1913 World Series as the New York Giants and Philadelphia Athletics. The Giants won 4-1 in 1905, and the Athletics won in 1911 and 1913. Hall of Famers such as John McGraw, Roger Bresnahan, Christy Mathewson, Joe McGinnity and Rube Marquard took part on the Giants side while the Athletics had Connie Mack, Chief Bender, Eddie Plank, Rube Waddell, Frank Baker and Eddie Collins. Such World Series match-ups might have helped contribute to the modern New York-Philadelphia sports rivalry that still continues to this day.

The Move to the Bay

1989 World Series

Main article: 1989 World Series

The San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics met for the first time in the 1989 World Series. This series was interrupted minutes before Game 3 on October 17, 1989 when the earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay Area with a 7.1 on the Richter Scale. The resulting damage to both Candlestick Park and to a lesser extent the Oakland Coliseum, along with the emotional and economic damage to the area, delayed the resumption of the series for 10 days, the longest interval between games in World Series history. The earthquake caused the collapse of a portion of the Bay Bridge, the centerpiece of many promotions for the "Bay Bridge Series."

The Athletics swept the Giants to win their most recent World Series championship.

Interleague play

Both teams met for the first time in the regular season in June 1997.

The Giants' Barry Zito started 0-4 against his former team, finally beating the Athletics on June 12, 2010 at AT&T Park.

Athletics relocation controversy

The A's have been considering relocating to San Jose, CA for thirteen years but have reportedly met resistance from the Giants. San Jose is located in Santa Clara County, which is considered to be the Giants "territory". The Athletics claim that former owner Walter A. Haas, Jr. agreed for the Giants to take over the Santa Clara area when the Giants were considering moving to Florida and needed revenue. The Giants contend that the agreement was not based upon actually relocating the team to Santa Clara as the A's contended. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, who was fraternity brothers with A's managing partner Lew Wolff at the University of Wisconsin, stated that the A's would not be able to survive as a franchise if they remained at the Oakland Coliseum. The Giants claimed that the territorial rights were "explicitly reaffirmed by Major League Baseball on four separate occasions," when former managing partner Peter Magowan bought the team in the early 1990s. The Giants stated "upon purchasing the team 20 years ago, our plan to revive the franchise relied heavily on targeting and solidifying our fan base in the largest and fastest growing county within our territory. Based on these Constitutionally-recognized territorial rights, the Giants invested hundreds of millions of dollars to save and stabilize the team for the Bay Area, built AT&T Park privately and has operated the franchise so that it can compete at the highest levels."

Year-by-year results

File:Battle of the Bay!

A's have more wins in the match of the Battle of the Bay.

Regular season

Year	Series Winner	Athletics	Giants	Notes
1997	Tie	2	2	2-game home-and-away format
1998	Tie	2	2
1999	Tie	3	3	Switch to 6-game home-and-away format
2000	Tie	3	3
2001	Giants	2	4	First time season series doesn't end in a tie
2002	Athletics	4	2
2003	Tie	3	3
2004	Tie	3	3
2005	Athletics	4	2
2006	Tie	3	3
2007	Athletics	5	1
2008	Athletics	4	2
2009	Giants	1	5
2010	Tie	3	3	Giants win World Series championship
2011	Tie	3	3
2012	Giants	2	4	Giants win World Series championship
2013	Athletics	3	1	First time using 2-game home and home format since 1998
Overall	Athletics (5-3-9)	50	46

World Series

Year	Series Winner	Athletics	Giants	Notes
1905	Giants	1	4	Philadelphia vs. New York and first WS organized by MLB
1911	Athletics	4	2	Philadelphia vs. New York
1913	Athletics	4	1	Philadelphia vs. New York
1989	Athletics	4	0	First Oakland-San Francisco matchup; Interrupted by earthquake during Game 3
Overall	Athletics (3-1)	13	7