As the New York Yankees head into the 2018 season, it’s safe to say that business is booming. Solid proof of that comes from their ticket sales. With reigning National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton now on board, sales are significantly up from a season ago.
How popular are the #Yankees these days with the acquisition of Giancarlo Stanton? They have already sold about 550,000 more tickets than a year ago at this time
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 31, 2018
Certainly, much of that can be attributed to landing Stanton from the Miami Marlins. Stanton is not only the reigning National League MVP, but also hit 59 home runs a season ago. Players like that have always drawn fans to the stadium.
So, Stanton is a big factor. He may even be the biggest factor. But he’s certainly not the only one.
Stanton’s new best friend, Aaron Judge, deserves a lot of credit. At this time last year, little was expected of Judge. It’s hard to imagine that anyone was buying tickets to see him, since it was far from a certainty that he’d even make the team. That’s changed. Now, people are buying his jersey in massive numbers and Judge is arguably MLB’s most marketable player.
Finally, New York didn’t have especially high hopes at this time in 2017. The Yankees had missed the playoffs in 2016 and appeared to be a .500 team entering 2017. Coming off of a trip to the ALCS, the Bronx Bombers head into 2018 with genuine World Series aspirations.
So, if you’re a fan of a team who’s entering 2018 with fairly bland expectations, use this as a reason to be upbeat. Things can change a lot in one year.