The A’s will follow in the footsteps of their fellow California teams and move to full capacity at the Coliseum for the remainder of the season beginning on June 29 against the Texas Rangers.

“I think it’s great,” said manager Bob Melvin. “It’s been a completely different feeling this year, especially in places where we had a lot of people.”

To celebrate the return of fans, the A’s will host a postgame fireworks show on July 2.

The team will “strongly encourage” fans to be fully vaccinated, test negative for COVID-19 or wear face coverings while in attendance.

Attractions such as the Treehouse, Championship Plaza and Shibe Park Tavern will once again be open to the public, after being closed for a lengthy period of time.

Non-California residents will be able to purchase tickets, and those who have already purchased tickets for games after June 29 will have the opportunity to upgrade their seats using the MLB Ballpark app.

Across the state, the Angels, Dodgers, Giants and Padres have also made similar announcements regarding plans for reoperation at full capacity. The Giants, in particular, will begin operating at full capacity at Oracle Park on June 25, when the A’s travel to San Francisco for the Battle of the Bay.

The move to operate at full capacity coincides with California’s effort to reopen the state beginning on June 15.

“It feels as close to normal as it can possibly feel, and once places start going to full capacity, not only does it feel good from a baseball end and the fan support and the excitement in the ballpark, but it also feels like, as a country, we’re going in the right direction and things are getting back to a little bit whatever you would consider normalcy,” Melvin said.

A's in awe of Ohtani
The A’s are plenty familiar with Shohei Ohtani, but the latest version of the two-way star has been operating at the peak of his powers.

The Angels' uber-aggressive strategy to use Ohtani as an everyday player has paid dividends. At the plate, Ohtani is slashing .270/.330/.626 with 15 home runs. On the mound, he has a 2.37 ERA across 30 1/3 innings.

“It’s unbelievable,” Melvin said. “It really is. I mean, nobody can do that. There have been plenty of guys that have tried to, but it’s tough enough doing one as opposed to the other, let alone excelling at both.”

Oakland's pitching staff is plenty familiar with Ohtani. In 32 career games against the A’s, Ohtani is slashing .297/.366/.559 with eight home runs. It was at the Coliseum where Ohtani collected his first career hit as well.

(Ohtani was a late scratch for Thursday's scheduled start on the mound due to a transportation issues the Angels experienced when trying to head to Oakland from San Francisco on Thursday afternoon. He'll start Friday instead.)

Surprisingly enough, the A’s have had some success against Ohtani on the mound. In three career starts, Oakland has tagged Ohtani for eight earned runs in just 13 innings, good for a 5.54 ERA.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Melvin said. “It’s a fantastic talent. People around the game, and certainly fan bases, should appreciate that because it is a very difficult thing to do -- to be that good both ends of it.”

Brown’s defense
Seth Brown’s pop at the plate is well known. What’s been surprising, however, is how skilled he's been in the field.

Entering Thursday, Brown has tallied an astonishing five defensive runs saved in just 52 innings at left field. This type of production in the field hasn’t come as a complete surprise; in 2019, Brown recorded four defensive runs saved in 153 innings.

That prowess in the field has complemented the work he’s done at the plate. In 38 games this season, Brown has a .828 OPS with eight home runs.

“He’s getting more opportunities than he ever has and he’s, again, taking advantage of it and showing us what he can do,” Melvin said. “You look at some of the numbers, analytics, jumps and routes. What he covers, it’s really impressive for what you would think would be a big guy ... [you might think he'd] be a little slower, but he’s not.”