LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Major League Baseball’s slate of 14 games on Friday saw an average attendance of 35,284, the highest average for a Friday in April with no home openers since April 25, 2008, the league said.
Those fans were treated to some compelling contests, including the Chicago Cubs pulling out a wild 13-11 home win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Cubs surrendered a six-run lead by giving up 10 runs in the top of the eighth only to respond with six runs in the bottom half of the inning to win the slugfest.
Mets fans in Queens erupted when Francisco Lindor crushed a walk-off home run into the upper deck of Citi Field to end back-and-forth battle with the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto won a pitching duel with Jacob deGrom en route to a 3-0 win over the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels starter Tyler Anderson threw six scoreless innings as part of a 2-0 shutout of the San Francisco Giants.
New rules aimed at speeding up MLB games resulted in higher attendance and viewership last season, including the highest regular season attendance in seven years, the league said in October.
The measures introduced ahead of the 2023 season included larger bases, a pitch clock and the elimination of the infield shift, a dramatic collection of changes that led to average game times of two hours and 36 minutes – the fastest since 1984.
While fans have flocked to stadiums in LA, San Diego, New York and Philadelphia this season, that is not the case across the league.
Ballparks in Tampa Bay and Miami are among those that have seen a striking number of empty seats this season.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles)
Comments