Monday always was going to be a special day in California’s capital city.

The Athletics hosted their first game at Sutter Health Park while in the process of moving from Oakland to Las Vegas, as they will play the next three seasons at Triple-A Sacramento River Cats’ home.

The Cubs spoiled the night for the sellout crowd of 12,119, though, as they walloped the A’s 18-3.

[MORE: How Oakland native Nico Hoerner feels about Athletics’ Sacramento move]

Here are three takeaways from the blowout in the first night of Major League Baseball in West Sacramento:

Much-needed fast start …

Let’s not sugarcoat it – Sunday was a terrible, no-good, very bad loss for the Cubs. Leading by four runs in the eighth inning and losing by four will create that sour taste.

They showed no hangover from that, though.

Four of the Cubs’ first five hitters reached base, the last two on back-to-back home runs, and they raced out to a 4-0 lead before the A’s had taken their first at-bats. It was the kind of start you’d want to see from a team after a tough loss.

The Cubs, who now are 3-4, had to stew on the 0-2 start for over a week after dropping the first two games of the season in the MLB Tokyo Series. Manager Craig Counsell spoke about the difficulty of playing two competitive games and then ramping down for a week. The beauty of baseball is that it allows you to quickly forget about a day – good or bad – because there’s another game the next day. That wasn’t the case after Tokyo.

But like in the domestic opener in Arizona last week, the Cubs showed the ability to bounce back. Now, they must turn the page – in a good way – to try to win the three-game series Tuesday.

… welcome insurance

The Cubs had a fast start – and most importantly – never let off the gas pedal.

They brought at least five hitters to the plate in each of the first six innings and batted around in a five-run fifth and a six-run sixth to put the game to bed.

The bullpen was the focus in Sunday’s loss, and deservedly so. But the Cubs’ ability to tack on runs is just as crucial. They had that Sunday, and the bullpen blew it. On Monday night, the offense was so relentless that it gave the A’s no chance to claw back.

The offense was built to create that type of separation. The Cubs’ bullpen was a bugaboo last season, especially through the first half of the year. But they also were the product of an offense that failed to put away games. They played in 33 one-run games through their first 81 last season – the most in baseball – and were just 14-19 in them.

That’s why the Cubs traded for right fielder Kyle Tucker, who adds a bonafide superstar to the middle of the lineup and can elevate the rest of the hitters. On Monday, Tucker was 4-for-7 with a home run and two doubles, and he has a 222 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) 122 percentage points above league average. Yes, it’s early, but that’s what he can provide.

When Tucker is doing that, it just makes the Cubs’ lineup so much deeper. Catcher Carson Kelly arguably had the best night of any hitter — he posted the first cycle by a Cub since Mark Grace in 1993, and he was hitting ninth.

The Cubs won’t always put up 16 runs, but it’s a flash of what they can be when everything clicks.

Solid outing for Ben Brown

Despite the blowout, Cubs right-hander Ben Brown had a couple of dicey moments.

A’s No. 9 hitter Jacob Wilson led off the third inning with his first major league home run, and Lawrence Butler walked, setting the stage for a potential comeback opportunity. But Brown showed why he won the fifth spot in the Cubs’ rotation. He induced a groundout and a flyout, and then struck out Shea Langeliers to escape the jam.

In the fourth, Brown allowed three consecutive one-out hits that trimmed the Cubs’ lead to 5-3. Brown again wiggled out of the jam, though, by inducing two groundouts.

Brown will have growing pains – it was just his second season in the majors, and he missed most of last year with a neck injury. But he showed why he’ll be a big piece of Counsell’s pitching staff.