With spring training ending yesterday, it’s time to review attendance in the Grapefruit League and Cactus League. Here’s our final listing of spring training attendance, ranked by average.
These are numbers coming directly from Major League Baseball. However, this is only one way to rank attendance, as these numbers include all games played by each team, including exhibitions far from Florida and Arizona. Numbers for the Giants, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Padres, Angels, Nationals, Astros, Athletics and Phillies are inflated because exhibition games at their home MLB ballparks are counted in these totals; similarly, Toronto benefits from 80,000 or so attendees at Olympic Stadium exhibitions. Florida and Arizona authorities will release numbers based on games played just in those states.
Still, you can get a good idea of how strong a draw each MLB team is in spring training, and some comparisons are valid. It’s no secret attendance and interest in New York Yankees spring training was down in 2015: the year-to-year average comparison shows a dip. The Oakland Athletics obviously benefited from a move to a renovated Hohokam Stadium, with a solid attendance boost. The Kansas City Royals saw a boost based on a memorable 2014 World Series run, And with a great offseason and a Peoria Stadium renovation, the San Diego Padres saw their Cactus League numbers rise, as did the Seattle Mariners.
| # | Team | League | Total | Games | Average | 2014A | +/- |
| 1 | Chicago Cubs | Cactus | 232,790 | 16 | 14,549 | 13,933 | 0.04 |
| 2 | San Francisco Giants | Cactus | 253,477 | 18 | 14,082 | 13,434 | 0.05 |
| 3 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Cactus | 192,054 | 16 | 12,003 | 13,463 | -0.11 |
| 4 | Arizona Diamondbacks | Cactus | 237,009 | 20 | 11,850 | 11,083 | 0.07 |
| 5 | Los Angeles Angels | Cactus | 190,706 | 17 | 11,218 | 9,532 | 0.18 |
| 6 | New York Yankees | Grapefruit | 171,715 | 17 | 10,101 | 11,141 | -0.09 |
| 7 | Boston Red Sox | Grapefruit | 148,862 | 15 | 9,924 | 9,845 | 0.01 |
| 8 | Toronto Blue Jays | Grapefruit | 165,646 | 17 | 9,744 | 10,261 | -0.05 |
| 9 | Colorado Rockies | Cactus | 154,099 | 16 | 9,631 | 10,604 | -0.09 |
| 10 | Philadelphia Phillies | Grapefruit | 168,816 | 18 | 9,379 | 9,137 | 0.03 |
| 11 | Texas Rangers | Cactus | 174,962 | 19 | 9,209 | 9,070 | 0.02 |
| 12 | Oakland Athletics | Cactus | 147,619 | 17 | 8,683 | 5,201 | 0.67 |
| 13 | Seattle Mariners | Cactus | 132,519 | 16 | 8,282 | 7,773 | 0.07 |
| 14 | Washington Nationals | Grapefruit | 119,847 | 15 | 7,990 | 8,482 | -0.06 |
| 15 | Detroit Tigers | Grapefruit | 134,377 | 17 | 7,905 | 7,748 | 0.02 |
| 16 | Kansas City Royals | Cactus | 105,271 | 14 | 7,519 | 6,713 | 0.12 |
| 17 | Baltimore Orioles | Grapefruit | 112,257 | 15 | 7,484 | 7,454 | 0.00 |
| 18 | Minnesota Twins | Grapefruit | 118,579 | 16 | 7,411 | 7,700 | -0.04 |
| 19 | San Diego Padres | Cactus | 106,328 | 15 | 7,089 | 5,076 | 0.40 |
| 20 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Grapefruit | 106,038 | 15 | 7,069 | 7,587 | -0.07 |
| 21 | Atlanta Braves | Grapefruit | 127,131 | 18 | 7,063 | 7,300 | -0.03 |
| 22 | St. Louis Cardinals | Grapefruit | 98,533 | 15 | 6,569 | 6,914 | -0.05 |
| 23 | Chicago White Sox | Cactus | 87,294 | 14 | 6,235 | 6,751 | -0.08 |
| 24 | New York Mets | Grapefruit | 91,329 | 15 | 6,089 | 5,767 | 0.06 |
| 25 | Milwaukee Brewers | Cactus | 85,022 | 15 | 5,668 | 6,276 | -0.10 |
| 26 | Cleveland Indians | Cactus | 85,874 | 16 | 5,367 | 4,496 | 0.19 |
| 27 | Tampa Bay Rays | Grapefruit | 80,406 | 15 | 5,360 | 5,616 | -0.05 |
| 28 | Miami Marlins | Grapefruit | 70,982 | 14 | 5,070 | 5,487 | -0.08 |
| 29 | Houston Astros | Grapefruit | 70,938 | 15 | 4,729 | 3,726 | 0.27 |
| 30 | Cincinnati Reds | Cactus | 64,228 | 15 | 4,282 | 4,632 | -0.08 |
| TOTALS | 4,034,708 | 481 | 8,388 |
RELATED STORIES: 2015 Spring Training Attendance by Average; 2015 Spring Training Attendance by Total