Thin MLB crowds in Atlanta, Houston reflect challenge of selling afternoon Wild Card Series tickets

Austin Riley delivered the first clutch moment of Major League Baseball’s playoffs on Tuesday, hitting a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth inning that pushed the Atlanta Braves over the Philadelphia Phillies for a 5-3 win.

It was an electric scene for fans at Truist Park — at least for those who decided to show up.

There has been a noticeable number of empty seats in Atlanta and Houston for day games during this week’s Wild Card Series, with the Braves drawing 30,127 fans for Game 1 on Tuesday that started at 2 p.m. local time, well below the 41,108 capacity. The Astros announced that 34,011 fans attended Tuesday’s 4 p.m. Game 1 at Daikin Park, also well below its 41,168-seat limit.

It’s not the first time this has happened.

Since MLB permanently expanded the playoffs to a 12-team bracket in 2022, just six of 26 afternoon Wild Card Series games through Tuesday have reached or exceeded stadium capacity. Seven games failed to reach even 85% capacity. The Braves-Phillies game on Tuesday was 73.2% full, which is the lowest since the postseason expanded, according to research from Sportradar.

On Wednesday, the crowds were slightly better. Game 2 of the Braves-Phillies series had an announced crowd of 37,150 while Game 2 of the White Sox-Astros matchup had 36,015 in attendance.

The main issue for day games is obvious: It’s hard for fans to attend day games during the week — particularly in late September and October — because people have to work and children are back in school. It doesn’t help that those game times are announced with only a few days’ notice.

Still, it’s a less-than-ideal atmosphere for some of the most important contests of the year.

Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm shrugged off the smaller crowds before Wednesday’s game, saying his team just wants to win games and advance.

“I don’t think anybody on our team is really focused on how many people are showing up here,” Bohm said. “It’s just kind of — I think, like you said, it’s a 2 o’clock game in the middle of the week, so I think that might have something to do with it.

“That doesn’t take away from what’s going on on the field and kind of the stakes of all that in our minds.”

All three ALWCS games in Cleveland last year between the Guardians and Detroit Tigers started at 1:08 p.m., and none drew more than 30,000 fans. The Tampa Bay Rays had just 19,704 for an ALWCS opener against Texas in 2023 that started at 3:08 p.m., the lowest attendance for a non-COVID MLB postseason game since the 1919 World Series.

MLB declined to comment on the attendance numbers, but the league spreads its wild-card games throughout the day on purpose so they have their own television window and capture the largest viewing audience possible. NBC is paying the league roughly $200 million per year to host “Sunday Night Baseball” and the Wild Card Series during a three-year deal agreed to last November.

The Astros fans who did attend Tuesday’s game were in a bit of a foul mood, peppering the team with boos as they fell behind 5-0 by the fifth inning on the way to a 6-3 loss. Astros manager Joe Espada said he understood the fans’ frustration but hoped for a better atmosphere on Wednesday.

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“I do want our fans to know that we love them and we need them,” Espada said. “They’re part of what we are trying to accomplish here. They’re part of our family.”

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AP Sports Writers Charles Odum in Atlanta and Kristie Rieken in Houston contributed to this story.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here