A's Had to Fly Back to Bay Area Aboard Giants-Branded Plane

At the risk of stoking the embers of the smoldering A's-vs-Giants rivalry — neither as raging nor important as the Great Dodgers-Giants War, but still sparking nonetheless — we are tickled to report that the Oakland Athletics had to return from their Seattle series aboard at Giants-branded plane.

Oops.

A's Josh Reddick took note before boarding this MLW Air plane:

No kidding, Josh. And the A's were not at all thrilled. Not one bit.

"Per our contract, we share a plane with the Dallas Mavericks and in the case of dual events, MLW Air subservices another charter on our behalf," Catherine Aker, director of corporate communications, explained to ESPN. "Because of the Mavericks game yesterday [in Los Angeles], MLW Air subserviced Eastern Airline for our flight. We were unaware of the Giants logo on the plane until we arrived and addressed our dissatisfaction with MLW Air."

The San Francisco Giants, to their credit, took it all in stride... by throwing some festive shade at their Bay Area counterparts.

Chin up, A's fans; you just swept the (last place) Mariners. So, you know, at least there's that.

• Oakland Athletics forced to fly home on airplane adorned with Giants logo [SB Nation]
• A's fly back from Seattle aboard Giants-branded plane [CNS Bay Area]
• Josh Reddick, A's fly home on plane with Giants logo [ESPN]