On Tuesday night, the Tampa Bay Rays organization again realized no matter how much they over-perform as a franchise they are in a city that will never be a true baseball-loving town.
Florida is a state rich with college and professional sports history. The Miami Dolphins are one of the more recognizable brands in the NFL, the Miami Heat are a consistently competitive squad in the NBA, the Florida State Seminoles and Florida Gators are two of the more well-known programs in the NCAA and their fanbases are notable. Yet, the devotion to those popular teams has never been consistent throughout the state.
Related: How starter Zach Eflin has taken the next step in his career with the Tampa Bay Rays
That situation seems to become even more evident when it comes to the state’s MLB teams. Despite having many competitive squads during their existence and a couple of championships, the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays have always played to sparse crowds for their games.
Yet when it comes to the Rays, that scenario is all the more baffling after you realize that the franchise has only had three losing seasons over the last decade despite being a small market club.
It would be assumed that so much success would cultivate a loyal and growing fan base in the Tampa area. However, that has sadly never been the case and the support for the franchise hit a new low point on Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay Rays score the lowest postseason attendance number since 1919
Despite winning 99 games this season and earning home-field advantage for their Wild Card Series against the Texas Rangers, the organization only had 19,704 fans in attendance for their Game 1 loss to the Rangers yesterday. It is all the more shocking knowing that Tropicana Field has a capacity of 31,000.
In barely having more than half of their stadium full on Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Rays earned the lowest attendance number for an MLB playoff game since Game 7 of the 1919 World Series had a paid attendance of 13,923 at Redland Field in Cincinnati.
Also Read: 2023 MLB power rankings – Evaluating all 30 clubs, ranking MLB playoff teams
The Rays averaged just 17,781 for their 81 home games this season. Only the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics — who are leaving for Las Vegas in a couple of years — and, of course, the Miami Marlins had a worse average attendance in 2023.