Opening Day will have a surprisingly different pop to it.

As in soda pop.

The Oakland A’s, a team widely known for thumbing its nose at conventions, will do it again beginning on Monday’s Opening Day. That’s when the only soft drink sold at the park officially dubbed “sponsor” by the team isn’t Pepsi or Coke, but a little-known alternative, Zevia, which has no artificial sweeteners and no calories.

“We’ve always been open to doing things differently,” says Jim Leahey, vice president of sales and marketing for the Oakland A’s. “It’s a positive alternative for fans.”

This after all, is the same team that once paid players to grow facial hair. It’s the only Major League Baseball team that wears green. It’s also the team in the hit film, Moneyball , which is about its unconventional approach to baseball.

The former official sponsor, Pepsi (and Diet Pepsi), sold in the Oakland Coliseum for years, will continue to be sold in considerable volume at the fountain.

Zevia will be sold in bottles at all concession stands

The $74 billion cola wars are about many things, but one of the newest and most unusual twists is consumers increasingly demanding soft drinks that not only have no calories, but no artificial ingredients. Enter Zevia, which is sweetened with plant-based stevia and monk fruit.

Now, it’s showing up on baseball’s prized Opening Day. “I never imagined this in my wildest dreams,” says Paddy Spence, the scrappy CEO of Zevia, which is developing a cult-like following in the Bay Area.

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