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2023 spring training attendance by average

With the end of the spring season yesterday, we have the numbers for Cactus League, Grapefruit League and exhibition games in our compilation of 2023 spring training attendance listings.

This compilation of 2023 spring training attendance includes everything: Cactus League games, Grapefruit League games, exhibitions outside Florida and Arizona (including Las Vegas games, other exhibition games and California exhibition games, which boosts the attendance for the Angels, Dodgers and Giants). Almost every team was up from 2022 to 2023. Teams enjoying the biggest boost: Texas Rangers (up 75 percent), San Diego Padres (up 73 percent), Tampa Bay Rays (up 72 percent), Arizona Diamondbacks (up 66 percent) and Washington Nationals (up 60 percent). You may be see some different rankings out there: both the Cactus League and Grapefruit League issue attendance figures limited to games in Arizona and Florida, respectively.

Still, the 37 percent boost in game average is what was expected in the first real post-COVID spring training season, as fans are finally coming back to the ballparks. We took a huge step toward normalcy in 2022, particularly by the end of both the MLB and MiLB seasons. We’re not all the way back yet — in 2019, the last full season pre-COVID, MLB teams drew 3,582,893 fans to spring training games, and in 2018 spring training attendance was 3,666,010, both still exceeding 2022 numbers. Note that In general spring attendance had been in decline; in 2016 MLB teams drew 4,025,874 fans to spring training and 4,024,927 in 2015.) So we still have a ways to go before full normalcy is at hand.

These numbers are drawn from MLB’s statistics system.

  Team LGE Total Gms Av. 2022A +/-
1 Chicago Cubs CL 231,711 17 13,630 9,922 0.37
2 Los Angeles Angels CL 170,920 14 12,209 10,490 0.16
3 Los Angeles Dodgers CL 166,396 14 11,885 12,134 -0.02
4 Arizona Diamondbacks CL 147,106 14 10,508 6,319 0.66
5 San Francisco Giants CL 146,642 15 9,776 6,687 0.46
6 New York Yankees GL 161,501 17 9,500 6,756 0.41
7 Boston Red Sox GL 134,976 16 8,436 7,330 0.15
8 Colorado Rockies CL 134,419 16 8,401 5,250 0.60
9 Philadelphia Phillies GL 129,981 16 8,124 5,083 0.60
10 Seattle Mariners CL 109,608 15 7,307 5,149 0.42
11 San Diego Padres CL 105,578 15 7,039 4,077 0.73
12 Texas Rangers CL 103,375 15 6,892 3,941 0.75
13 Oakland Athletics CL 102,796 16 6,425 4,247 0.51
14 Detroit Tigers GL 101,940 16 6,371 4,684 0.36
15 Kansas Ciity Royals CL 93,716 15 6,248 5,136 0.22
16 New York Mets GL 86,682 14 6,192 5,242 0.18
17 Atlanta Braves GL 92,403 15 6,160 5,147 0.20
18 Minnesota Twins GL 98,318 16 6,145 5,006 0.23
19 Baltimore Orioles GL 100,009 17 5,883 4,261 0.38
20 St. Louis Cardinals GL 81,197 14 5,800 4,002 0.45
21 Toronto Blue Jays GL 89,696 16 5,606 3,811 0.47
22 Chicago White Sox CL 75,818 14 5,416 4,039 0.34
23 Milwaukee Brewers CL 80,908 15 5,394 4,201 0.28
24 Pittsburgh Pirates GL 84,195 16 5,262 3,415 0.54
25 Tampa Bay Rays GL 68,361 14 4,883 2,831 0.72
26 Cleveland Guardians CL 62,641 14 4,474 3,189 0.40
27 Cincinnati Reds CL 59,592 14 4,257 3,289 0.29
28 Washington Nationals GL 60,610 15 4,041 2,521 0.60
29 Houston Astros GL 51,481 14 3,677 2,359 0.56
30 Miami Marlins GL 43,128 13 3,318 2,860 0.16
      3,175,704 452 7,026 5,227 0.34

suds

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