An undercurrent of hope has perforated the opening season of the team formerly known as the Oakland Athletics: Sacramento wants Major League Baseball to stay. But to stay, they need to make money. And to make money, they need Sacramentans to buy into the whole idea.

That enthusiasm has felt… well, flagging, lately. Especially with such a lackluster start to the season. Sacramentans just don’t seem all that welcoming, and I can’t say I blame them. The A’s arrived with a lot of fanfare but not a lot to show for it.

Maybe Sacramento just needs someone to hype up the crowd, and who else better to show off the earning power of the Capitol City than its mayor and city council? It was a role that our former mayor, Darrel Steinberg, played well. He was always the biggest cheerleader for the city’s growth potential at every given opportunity.

While the seat may not have been a “strong mayor” position politically — meaning most of the power lies with the City Manager — there is a type of soft power that can be wielded via public enthusiasm. That’s a role Kevin McCarty is well-suited for, considering his love of the game. (And I mean any game, really: Sac’s new mayor used to captain the Assembly Democrats’ softball team and once led legislation to make children’s football games safer. Which, actually, kind of makes his low profile on the As all the more curious, no?)

Sacramentans are generally eager to show the national baseball organization that the region is a good bet for America’s favorite pastime, just as the region once enticed the National Basketball Association to stay instead of letting the owners take the team to Anaheim and Seattle. A few years ago, the city and other supporters convinced Major League Soccer to name Sacramento as an MLS city, but when the proposed billionaire owner bailed, the dream died.

Now, the region’s turn at a major league baseball team has barely begun and the energy levels already seem to be lagging. In a minor league park with a capacity of 13,416, the A’s failed to sell out a string of games after their March 31 home opener. Outfield seats were discounted to $25.

Still, despite the chaotic start to the As first season at Sutter Health Park (which included no preview game for player familiarity and a lack of media accommodations) there are many people who would love to see the As stay in Northern California instead of moving to Nevada in 2028.

And why not stay in Sacramento?

It’s a long shot, but we need city leaders to do the lobbying for us behind the scenes. Even if the A’s do move to Vegas, MLB plans to expand the league by 2029, which could mean Sacramento would get its own expansion team if its audition as the home of the A’s goes well.

Off the record, the A’s say they are confident the Vegas move is going to happen, which partially explains why the locals are not openly lobbying for the team to stay. But there is a case to be made for MLB in Sacramento and leaders should be making it, despite that the A’s already snubbed Sacramento once last November, announcing that they would drop “Oakland” from the team name but refused to pick up “West Sacramento” — or even just “Sacramento” — during their stay here.

That official decision hasn’t stopped a flood of knock-off brand shirts proudly proclaiming allegiance to the “Sacramento As,” though. (Full disclosure: I own one.)

Las Vegas is still three years away, but Sacramento’s short period to impress is already dwindling. So if this is going to happen, we need everyone on board — especially the mayor and city council.

Beyond the obvious policymaking and auditing, one of the powers of the mayor and the council is to command public attention. That, in turn, can rally the community behind a cause. So far, we’ve seen very little in the way of public support for the idea of an MLB team from them. I’m just shooting from my hip here but why not throw out the first pitch? Wear an A’s hat to a city council meeting? Bring a gaggle of kids to a game for some good press. Something! Anything! Show us that you care!

Frankly, the quiet from City Hall is unsettling after Sac’s Steinberg years, but maybe that’s the sticking point; both McCarty and the A’s are still finding their footing here, and Sacramento is still figuring out what kind of mayor McCarty is going to be. Will he rah-rah for business growth? Will he side with hardliners on homeless policies? Will he be a forward-facing or behind-the-scenes kind of operator? We just don’t know yet. Maybe he doesn’t either.

But there’s a golden opportunity for him lying just ahead: Mayor McCarty can show us that he sees his new job as more than just a pit stop, and in turn, that Sacramento can be more than just a pit stop for the As.

We just need to play ball.

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