WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) – There’s just something special about night baseball.

The Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, open the 2022 season tonight under the lights at Sutter Health Park against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.

For River Cats outfielder Bryce Johnson, when the sun goes down, he excels.

“Being able to play underneath the lights, I always love night games,” Johnson said. “We just played all these spring games during the day. So being able to get underneath the lights and in front of everybody feels great. That’s my favorite part about it is playing night baseball. There’s nothing that beats it.”

The switch-hitting outfielder said he had played in one Opening Day night game previously when he was with the Giants’ Single-A affiliate, the San Jose Giants, in 2018. Unsurprisingly, that happened to be one of his best games of the season according to Johnson.

From Single-A to the big leagues, players around Major League Baseball are happy to be back and that the MLB lockout is over.

“(I’m excited) just to be playing,” said right-handed pitcher Sean Hjelle. “Obviously, we had the lockout and everything happen. We didn’t know how long things would be delayed. It’s just good to be playing and on time. I think minor leagues didn’t lose any games so we’re on time and it’s just good to be back.”

Many players like the 6-foot-11 Hjelle didn’t let the 99-day lockout affect their offseason preparation.

“You still had to take care of business and get your offseason workouts in because you never knew when it was going to happen and when it was going to end or what not,” Hjelle said. “So, you just prepare for everything starting on time and if it’s delayed then you just go from there at that point.”

One relatively fresh face for the River Cats is Ka’ai Tom who signed with the team before the conclusion of last season.

“I’m just very happy that San Francisco signed me at the end of the season last year,” Tom said. “When I came over it was just a lot of fun. Everyone had good vibes and worked together. I’m just happy to be part of this organization and being given an opportunity to hopefully make it to Oracle Park.”

Tom achieved a lifelong goal at the beginning of the 2021 season, making his major league debut with the Oakland Athletics before eventually joining their rivals on the other side of the bay with a Pittsburgh stop in between. The 5-foot-9 outfielder said spring training went “pretty good” and recognized his coaches for that.

“It’s a credit to the coaching staff just being transparent,” Tom said. “Letting you know what goals that they’re expecting out of you. Asking our feedback and what we feel or anything. The transparency overall shows why we were successful last year as well and it’s looking to be that way again.”

The River Cats reached the pinnacle of Triple-A in 2019 when they won the championship. Then in 2020, the Minor League Baseball (MiLB) season was cancelled in its entirety due to the coronavirus pandemic. Finally, the River Cats were unable to defend their title in 2021.

Now in 2022, the team is poised for a bounce back season.

“We got some exciting players on this team,” Johnson said. “Every night, every day, we’re going to end up probably having someone doing something crazy, something pretty cool. So, I would say come out and check us out.

“(It’s) not going to be boring, I can tell you that.”