Athletics’ batting practice was cancelled because of bees

Now we know why the Oakland Athletics are known as the A’s for short and not the B’s.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the A’s scheduled batting practice before Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels was cancelled due to a swarm of bees at Angel Stadium. Oakland manager Bob Melvin noted that he’d never had a batting practice scrapped by bees before.

A’s batting practice appears to have just been canceled because of … bees. What is it with MLB and bees this year? Also yes, MLBee’s, I see it too.

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) June 6, 2019

Melvin says he’s never had BP canceled by bees before. A’s had the option to hit anyway but declined. There’s a big swarm on the field.

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) June 7, 2019

The bees are getting shop-vacc’d right now: pic.twitter.com/MHmv3lX3bc

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) June 7, 2019

The A’s did not appear to be affected by the cancelled BP. They plated six runs in the early going of Thursday’s contest and chased Angels starter Tyler Skaggs from the game by the fifth inning.

Interestingly enough though, Oakland is not the only MLB team that has been affected by an unwelcome swarm of bees in the last month.