MLB insider jokes about Tampa Bay's sparsely populated crowd: "Dodgers have more fans at a team workout than the Rays had at a postseason game"
The Tampa Bay Rays began their playoff appearance on Tuesday against the Texas Rangers. The sparsely populated crowd at Tropicana Field was one of the main talking points of the game. Only 19,704 fans showed up to cheer on the home team in their opening postseason game.
There were several possible reasons for Tropicana Field being well under full capacity for the game. For starters, this was a midweek day game that began at 3 in the afternoon. It could have been better scheduled, being a playoff that included two teams that combined for 189 wins this year.
In a recent post on "X," formerly known as Twitter, MLB host Doug McKain joked that the Los Angeles Dodgers had more fans attending their team workout than Tampa Bay produced on Tuesday.
"Dodgers have more fans at a team workout than the Rays had at a postseason game" - Doug McKain
McKain posted a video of a strong turnout for a team workout session at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles are preparing to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks with the first game of the series set for October 7.
The Tampa Bay Rays recorded the lowest playoff attendance in over a century
The fans that did show up on Tuesday left disappointed after a stellar display from pitcher Jordan Montgomery, who led the Rangers to a straightforward 4-0 victory. The Rays managed just six hits, walked six batters, with four errors.
"The Rays drew the lowest attendance of any postseason baseball game for Tuesday’s Wild Card game since the 1919 World Series (Black Sox scandal). There were just 19,704 people at The Trop. Pretty embarrassing, even for a 3pm local start time." - Jordan Moore
Wednesday's must-win game did not turn out well either. The home team was comprehensively outplayed by the Rangers. Texas went on to sweep Tampa Bay with a dominant 7-1 victory. This time, the attendance figures were only slightly better, with a crowd of 20,198 fans.
Game 1 of the series was the lowest attendance of any MLB team in the postseason since 1919.
To put things into perspective, the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, and San Diego Padres all averaged over 40,000 fans per game during the regular season. Tampa Bay was unable to crack the 20,000 mark for their biggest game of the year.