Tampa - worst
Cleveland - second worst
Kansas City - fifth worst
Along with 55 win Miami and 51 win Houston, those three American Conference (AC) teams have the lowest attendance per game among the 30 teams in the Major Baseball League (MBL). AC West leading Oakland has the 8th worst attendance. Baltimore is 13th worst. In the AC, only the Yankees and Texas are wild card contenders with high attendance. Texas may be high because until recently the Rangers led the West; they have the fifth best attendance. The Yanks have the fourth best attendance and are one of four teams averaging at least 40,000 per game in tickets sold. The attendance leaders:
LA Dodgers, NC West leaders
San Francisco Giants, last season's champions
St. Louis Cardinals, tied with Pittsburgh for first in NC Central
Pittsburgh has the 12th worst attendance, so Pirate fans are not nearly as enthusiastic as one might expect given that they have never played in the modern tournament, which started in 1995 (no tournament in 1994 due to player - management dispute, which ended the season in August). Pittsburgh finished first most recently in 1992 under the previous format when there were two divisions in each of the two leagues before the 1999 merger into the MBL.
Cincinnati (16th best attendance) has a five game lead for the second and final NC wild card spot over Arizona, which has the 9th worst attendance. So the NC fans are not too enthusiastic either.
All those lowly AC teams with their low attendance and the mainstream media making such a big deal about what a great success the new format is and what a genius the commissioner must be, one Allen Huber "Bud" Selig. Indeed. Let's see the TV ratings for the two play-in games. Will they be on TBS again and hiding from football?
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