The Fresno Grizzlies and Sacramento River Cats, both Triple-A Pacific Coast League teams from California, do not like each other. That rivalry is coming to a head this weekend with the Grizzlies hosting “Grumpy Cat Night” to kick off a series against the RiverCats.
The Grizzlies have been pulling the River Cats’ tails on social media all season, promoting a #Wackramento hash tag and redesigning Sacramento’s logo in the likeness of meme-famous Grumpy Cat. Fans who showed that they posted a Grumpy Cat meme with the #Wackramento hash tag got tickets for half price for tonight’s game in Fresno.
The @FresnoBee throws #Wackramento on the front page of today's paper. The rivalry with the @RiverCats is for real. pic.twitter.com/UvPbU5NdFy
— Fresno Grizzlies (@FresnoGrizzlies) June 23, 2015
The redesigned logo has made its way to the front page of the local paper, and even to a billboard that the Grizzlies took out in Sacramento.
This billboard in #Wackramento (#Sacramento) Too funny! #meow @CorralCarina https://t.co/4VPe3xgf7E pic.twitter.com/TyxF6UUIyJ
— Justin Sacher (@justinsacher) April 23, 2015
For their part, the River Cats did try to poke the bear with a redesigned identity of their own:
.@FresnoGrizzlies @bensbiz We can photoshop logos too! #FresKnowsNothing pic.twitter.com/S7kSnt6ANo
— Sacramento River Cats (@RiverCats) February 6, 2015
While there’s always been a rivalry simmering between the California teams, things got especially touchy this past offseason when the San Francisco Giants ditched their Grizzlies affiliation and signed on with the River Cats.
Then the teams announced competing California state flag promotional jerseys, setting off a Twitter war over which team had the better claim to being California’s Triple-A team.
In the offseason affiliation shuffle that sent the Giants to Sacramento, the Grizzlies eventually signed on with the Houston Astros. While the Astros have not had much success in the Majors in recent years, they have one of the league’s top farm systems, which means success on the field for their affiliates. The Giants, on the other hand, have won three of the last five World Series, but have a depleted farm system.
To that end, the first-place Grizzlies lead the last-place River Cats by 12.5 games in the PCL’s Pacific Northern division standings so far this season, but Sacramento is leading in the all-important attendance rankings, so both teams can claim victory in the rivalry.
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