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Pokémon Night at Oracle Park: A Report

Pikachu, Snorlax, Raffy Devers

Pablo Figueroa
Baseball 14 Hours Ago

According to my MLB.tv year-end review, I watch an unhealthy amount of San Francisco Giants games. According to my wife, I spend an unhealthy amount of money on Pokémon cards and related merchandise. Naturally, the unlikely collision of these two worlds became a no-brainer for me, as a planned trip to San Francisco suddenly became even more exciting when Pokémon Worlds Night was announced in late May.

Having secured special-event tickets before they sold out within the first day of the announcement, it only became a matter of waiting it out, as I would finally be making a return trip to Oracle Park following a ten-year absence. Naturally, my first visit to the Bay had come during the 2016 Pokémon World Championship, back when it was still considered a niche event. Things have changed drastically ever since for the Pocket Monster franchise, as a massive surge in popularity has turned the yearly world championship into a 50,000+ people gathering that features attendees from all over the world.

In that same span, the Giants franchise has gone the opposite direction of Pikachu and friends. Fresh off their dynasty years, those 2016 Giants were probably the last inkling to the past, with a season that ended in a massive what-if after blowing the chance to stop the eventual champion Cubs. Outside of that playoff appearance and the magical/surreal experience that was 2021, San Francisco has been a model of mediocrity despite their massive financial advantages and beautiful stadium, bottoming out with a 64-win 2017 and then always staying between 73 and 81 wins in every full season, except for 2021.

The ghost of that infamous 2017 has resurfaced almost a decade later, as the 2026 Giants went from a possible wild card contender, to a disappointment, to a trainwreck, to an outright embarrassment, with negative attention on and off the field. Rooting for this franchise has suddenly become harder than ever, which is kind of shocking when you think about the optimism that surrounded the team when Buster Posey became president of baseball operations. Having such an iconic ex-player leading the way was supposed to be the missing piece for a franchise that had become too reliant on analytics and player churn, and moves like taking a chance on Luis Arraez and pairing him with Ron Washington as infield coach were part of that revived old-school approach.

At the same time, the front office was weird enough to sign Tony Vitello as manager straight from the college ranks, while failing to add any significant free agents for the rotation or bullpen. In retrospect, signings like Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle should have been enough of a red flag to know that the Giants were not a real contender, but the season itself provided all the evidence needed to understand that. San Francisco started the season with a humbling home sweep against the Yankees and never recovered from it, staying all year below .500 while also being the only team in baseball without a single four-game winning streak.

Along with the ineptitude on the field, which included slow starts from the veterans that were supposed to anchor the offense, an uneven year from ace Logan Webb, a terrible bullpen, and Vitello looking overmatched plenty of times, the situations outside the diamond have ranged from bizarre to scandalous. There was the whole Pride Night fiasco that involved several pitchers, Rafael Devers outright ignoring his manager during a game, Harrison Bader crashing a scooter while he was supposed to be rehabbing from injury, the announcement that all veterans were available at the deadline, and even the sad news that beloved announcer Mike Krukow will retire at the end of the season.

Back on May 28, when the Pokémon-Giants tickets went on sale, San Francisco stood at a terrible 22-35 mark but with plenty of games left, so I clung to the hope that things would be better by the time of the game. Instead, the season of doom never really changed, and I arrived at Oracle Park with the team owning a 55-79 record, having already played out the string for a number of weeks. More shockingly, the team’s personnel had changed drastically in three months. Out of the starting lineup from a late May loss to the Rockies, only Devers remained by this fateful game featuring Pikachu, as injuries and a deadline sell-off have led to the Giants fielding a lineup that mixes interesting prospects and minor league journeymen.

Just a day before my arrival at Oracle Park, the Giants had blown a six-run lead in the ninth inning against the Reds, turning a 9-3 lead into a shocking 10-9 loss as the bullpen imploded yet again. This was the first time in franchise history that the Giants had blown a 6+ run lead in the ninth inning, which is simply astounding when you consider the franchise has been playing baseball for more than 140 years. Attendance for Giants games has significantly dwindled through the season, but the promise of a special night and the very nature of baseball had everyone, including myself, excited for the opportunity to fill Oracle Park.

Even in a lost season, there have been a few bright spots to celebrate. The maturation of Bryce Eldridge has made us believe that he is surely the future face of the franchise, highlighted by that time he hit a walk-off homer to erase a late eight-run deficit. Devers went from early power drought to possible trade bait to his old 30+ homer self, becoming the first hitter since Barry Bonds with at least 15 homers at Oracle Park. The trade deadline was not a massive fire sale, but rather a chance to retool and add a few exciting prospects, as the Giants have gone from a barren system to a top-10 farm according to several outlets, including five consensus top-100 prospects that should become stalwarts of the near future.

In the middle of all those silver linings, Pokémon Night can also be included as a memorable part of 2026.

If you are familiar with massively popular giveaways around sports, much like George Costanza bobbleheads or One Piece cards, massive crowds are part of the equation. However, the Giants were savvy enough to make this promotion part of their special ticket series, meaning that only people with such tickets were eligible for the jersey giveaway, as opposed to the traditional “first X number of fans through the gates” mechanism. This ensured that things were well organized to receive the coveted jerseys (which are currently going for hundreds of dollars on eBay), with the Giants sending out several reminders to arrive early, as they were available several hours before the stadium opened.

Unlike most publicized dustups of Pokémon fans and/or scalpers lining up for exclusive merchandise, these lines were civilized and featured plenty of helpful staff. As gates opened one hour prior to game time, most fans who had the special ticket were already wearing the coveted jerseys, along with other Pokémon accessories, plushes, and even trading cards. While most of the surroundings were otherwise the normal sights and sounds of a Giants game, there were photo ops with a Snorlax mascot, visual cues all around the jumbotron and even a former Pokémon world champion tossing out the first pitch as honchos from the Pokémon Company greeted from a nice luxury suite.

The game itself did not feature a promising pitching matchup, as Landen Roupp and his NL-leading 13 losses sized up against rookie Jose Cabrera, still winless through his first four career starts. Arizona had been a massive nuisance for the Giants, taking eight of their first nine meetings, often in blowout fashion, and with most of these games coming when San Francisco still had a richer roster. This time around, you would have been excused if you thought this was a Sacramento River Cats starting lineup with a rehabbing Devers at the top, as the Giants featured a bunch of 20-somethings with limited potential upside.

While the game may have been meaningless for the home team, the Diamondbacks are in the middle of a fierce battle for the last NL wild card spot, and continuing their dominance of San Francisco was paramount in that quest. For Giants fans, Roupp is a constant source of frustration, as he is equally capable of pitching like an ace or looking like a boring journeyman. He entered the game with a 4.34 ERA and 11 starts of at least three walks conceded, and while his large number of losses may not have been all on him, they were consistent with his lack of focus in key moments.

Probably inspired by the giant Pikachu hanging around the dugout, Roupp went ahead and had one of his best outings in a long time. He started the contest by retiring six of the first seven Dbacks he faced, while a single in the third became the first hit allowed. Meanwhile, San Francisco struck first with a rare lead-off homer from Drew Gilbert, who had been on somewhat of a power surge in recent weeks. Gilbert is one of many youngsters who have shown flashes of greatness, and seeing him take on the largest part of the yard was a welcome sight in a ballpark that tends to suppress that kind of power.

The local PA announcer had plenty of leeway in displaying all kinds of Pokémon-related sights and sounds throughout the game, including the iconic “Who’s that Pokémon?!” silhouettes in the jumbotron, Elite 4 music during mound visits, and making sure that fans were part of the experience. The announced crowd of 40,120 sounded like a massive lie by the third inning, but it started to look more and more real as the game went along.

By the fourth, the usual Roupp shenanigans were in full force, as he allowed a tying lead-off homer to Gabriel Moreno, followed by two singles and a walk that loaded the bases with only one out. However, Roupp then decided to show his occasional brilliance, squashing the rally with a shallow fly ball and a strikeout, drawing huge cheers from the Giant faithful. The game went into a lull from there, but a charming (and probably staged) marriage proposal seemed to light things up again, heading into an eventful bottom of the fifth. Christian Koss was barely hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, as San Francisco’s limited offense dictated that a bunt was in order. Nate Furman laid down a nice one that made the third baseman crash for the ball, while no one bothered to cover him. Koss alertly outran the defense and made it to third, which proved essential as he scored on a sac fly from Gilbert.

The 2-1 lead looked dangerous considering the state of San Francisco’s bullpen, but Trent Harris made the most of a rare appearance by tossing two scoreless frames, followed by a solid Carson Seymour inning to keep the score intact. In the middle of this, the seventh inning stretch included an inspired decision to follow Take Me Out to the Ballgame with a stadium-wide rendition of the Pokémon Theme Song, which showed just how well we can function as a society. This stretch also included Pikachu becoming part of the usual T-shirt toss to the stands, while most of us probably braced for the inevitable late-inning debacle.

Instead, the Giants granted us one of the most impressive offensive innings of the season, as Jung-Hoo Lee entered as a pinch-hitter to a raucous ovation. His presence is comparable to what Shohei Ohtani does for the Dodgers, as plenty of fans come to the stadium with the sole mission of seeing him. While he was not part of the starting lineup due to a lingering injury, his lone plate appearance would prove huge as he drew a 10-pitch walk, leading to a nice roar from the crowd. While Gilbert made an out, the next four batters would reach base, including a Devers single, an Eldridge double, and a couple of RBI singles that extended the lead to 6-1.

As the crowd looked content and started a wave that went around at least seven laps across the stadium, former closer Ryan Walker came in to finish the game, and the usual jitters showed in the form of two straight batters reaching, but he settled down to retire the next three and delivering a rare win over the Diamondbacks, as the Giants improved to 2-9 in the season series.  Unlike most games, the fans stayed put through the final out, as the announced Pokémon-themed drone show was set to begin. Gilbert was interviewed on the field as the MVP of the game, while Pikachu made his final on-field appearance to light up a giant button that set the drones ready to begin.

Displayed behind the jumbotron, the drones were a nice final touch to this memorable night, making all types of shapes and characters related to both the Pokémon Worlds event and traditional elements of the franchise. The show would go on for almost an hour, and served also as a nice prelude for the event itself, which went on from Friday to Sunday, drawing massive crowds and all kinds of Pokémon-mania.

In the end, the Giants and Dbacks would split their series, leaving them both at a similar spot than at the beginning. Arizona is still fighting for the playoffs, while San Francisco is simply trying to avoid just the second 100-loss season in franchise history. As the tagline goes, you gotta catch ’em all, and for the San Francisco Giants, that may just mean that their quest should be to at least catch something good from this season and carry it over to the next. And as they try to be the very best, like no one ever was, it simply can’t get worse than 2026… right?

Pablo Figueroa

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Pablo Figueroa is a Baseball Writer here at Pitcher List, with experience as a writer since 2013. He lives in Aguascalientes, Mexico - proud home of Los Rieleros. When he´s not thinking about baseball , he's a husband, owns two dogs, watches random episodes of The Sopranos , plays padel, and works on his day job to pay the bills.

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