Sacramento River Cats embrace viral "brat" summer social media trend at ballpark

WEST SACRAMENTO -- The Sacramento River Cats pitched a popular social media trend with its "brat night" theme Thursday while hosting the Reno Aces.

The themed night was a huge success. The team says its social media engagement has been busier than ever and they even caught the attention of Sports Illustrated.

"We wanted to take the opportunity to jump on the trend and take advantage of that and capture a new audience," said Sarah Hebel, marketing director for the River Cats.

CBS13 had to crack open the Gen Z dictionary to define "brat" — the latest trending TikTok buzzword.

"It's being your authentic self. Having fun," said Jalena Forrest Davis, who attended the River Cats game.

"Brat is a mood, a feeling, an energy. We want that fun of summer," Lee the Emcee sad at the stadium.

"I don't know. It's more like a state of mind!" added another new River Cats fan. "That's why I came out. I wanted this shirt."

The team swapped River Cats red and sold lime green shirts reading "River Cat Brat" and sold "brat" bratwursts and brat-themed green ice cream all to celebrate its "authentic" 25th anniversary this season.

"Brat" was made popular by pop star Charli XCX . The singer's new album titled "Brat" inspired the viral social media storm that followed.

It's even crept its way into politics.

After Charli XCX declared "Kamala IS brat" about the presumed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, her campaign's social media turned mostly lime green , embracing the "brat" badge of honor.

It's an effort to catch the eye of younger, blue voters.

"It's one thing to get young people's attention. The key is getting them to the polls," said Gary Dietrich, CBS13 political analyst. "But it can actually end up working against you with older people going, 'I don't want to be part of anything that sounds like that.' "

As for Sutter Health Park, there's no politics in baseball, but "brat summer" was a home run.