The Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in West Sacramento, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. The team will play its home games at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the 2025–2027 seasons before its planned relocation to the Las Vegas metropolitan area. While in West Sacramento, the team is being referred to as simply the "Athletics" and "A's", with no city name attached. The franchise's nine World Series championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles are the second most in the AL after the New York Yankees. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the team was founded in Philadelphia in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics. They won three World Series championships in 1910, 1911, and 1913, and back-to-back titles in 1929 and 1930. The team's owner and manager for its first 50 years was Connie Mack, and Hall of Fame players included Chief Bender, Frank "Home Run" Baker, Jimmie Foxx, and Lefty Grove. The team left Philadelphia for Kansas City, Missouri, in 1955 and became the Kansas City Athletics, before moving to Oakland, California, in 1968 and becoming the Oakland Athletics. The Athletics played their home games at the Oakland Coliseum from 1968 until 2024. Nicknamed the "Swingin' A's", under owner Charlie O. Finley they won three consecutive World Series in 1972, 1973, and 1974, led by players including Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, and Rollie Fingers. After being sold by Finley to Walter A. Haas Jr., the team won three consecutive pennants and the 1989 World Series behind the "Bash Brothers", Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, as well as Hall of Famers Dennis Eckersley, Rickey Henderson and manager Tony La Russa. In 2002, the Athletics set a then American League record for most consecutive wins in a season with twenty, an event that would go on to be the pioneering step in the application of sabermetrics in baseball. The streak record was later broken in 2017 by the Cleveland Indians. From 1901 through the end of 2024, the franchise's overall win–loss record is 9,329–9,859–87 (.486).

Sutter Health Park

Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball franchise located on the north side of Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The club played its first games in 1870 as the Chicago White Stockings, before officially becoming the Chicago Cubs for the 1907 season. The Cubs are the oldest currently active U.S. professional sports club, continuously existing in the same city for their entire history. They are one of the two remaining charter members of the National League (the other being the Atlanta Braves). Since Chicago did not have a fully operating White Stockings team for two seasons due to the Great Chicago Fire, differences continue to be voiced when considering the elder status of this ball club: Although the Braves have played for more consecutive seasons, the Cubs hold the distinction of having been founded a full season earlier (Cubs in 1870 and Braves in 1871). The Cubs are also one of two active major league clubs based in Chicago, the other being the Chicago White Sox of the American League. The team is currently owned by Thomas S. Ricketts, son of TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts. In 1906, the franchise recorded a Major League Baseball record 116 wins (tied by the 2001 Seattle Mariners) and posted a modern-era record winning percentage of .763, still held today. They appeared in their first World Series the same year, falling to their crosstown rivals, the White Sox, four games to two. The Cubs won back-to-back World Series championships in 1907 and 1908, becoming the first Major League club to play three consecutive times in the Fall Classic and the first to win it twice. The club has appeared in seven World Series following their 1908 title, most recently in 1945. The Cubs have not won the World Series in 106 years, the longest championship drought of any major North American professional sports team, and are often referred to as the "Lovable Losers" because of this distinction. They are also known as "The North Siders" because Wrigley Field, their home park since 1916, is located in Chicago's north side Lake View community at 1060 West Addison Street.