The Oakland Ballers are the Bay Area’s newest team, and they are beloved

First, the Raiders bailed, bound for Las Vegas. Then the Warriors sold out for plusher digs, across the bay in San Francisco. When the A’s left town a year ago, it seemed like this city of grit and big aspirations could not win for losing.

But Oakland regained at least a measure of its athletic glory this year with a scrappy, winning professional baseball team, one owned by the community in every sense of the word. Putting a cherry on top, the Oakland Ballers won the championship of the unaffiliated, under-appreciated Pioneer League on Sunday night.