Bad news: Major League Baseball’s average attendance dropped 1.1 percent this season. Good news: It was still pretty healthy, amounting to the 11th most-attended year in the game’s history. Of course, baseball has only had 30 teams for 19 seasons, so modulate that however you’d like.
MLB’s 30 teams combined to draw 73,159,044 fans overall, for an average of 30,169 per game. That was down from last year’s total of 73.76 million and average of 30,517. The average was the lowest since 30,138 in 2010. The record total of 79.5 million and average of 32,785 were set in 2007.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, who have always drawn well and who play in baseball’s largest stadium, led in home attendance at 3.7 million. Second came the St. Louis Cardinals, then the Blue Jays, Giants, Cubs, Yankees and Angels, all of whom drew over 3 million fans. Tampa Bay had the lowest home attendances at 1.29 million, and Oakland was 29th at 1.52 million. Cleveland was 28th at 1.59 million despite winning their division. The lowest in the NL was the Miami Marlins, who drew 1.71 million.