 Baseball Pilgrimages
The Best
Cubs Park in Mesa opened in 2014 to all-time spring training record crowds that catapulted the Cubs into the #1 attendance spots. Their total of 213,815 was 10,710 more than the record the Cubs had set at their previous stadium in 2009, while their per game average (14,254) was 1,254 more than the capacity of any other spring training park.
As for the most crowded spring training ballpark in 2014, the dually used Salt River Fields reported 314,097 tickets sold to the 30 games hosted by its tenants, the Diamondbacks and Rockies.
The Worst
Osceola County Stadium, where the Astros have been since 1985, became the first ballpark in many years to not top 50,000 in total attendance. Even had one game not been rained out there in 2014, based on the Astros' spring-worst average of 3,726 they still would have not reached 50K.
|
|
|
The 30 major league teams that are evenly split between the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues had total ticket sales of 3,112,360 for 427 games in 2014.
Attendance figures are based on tickets sold for the games that were played between major league teams in the spring training ballparks in Arizona and Florida. There were 16 games rained out in 2014. The games that were played drew an average of 7,289.
All numbers are from Spring Training Connection and teams are sorted by highest to lowest average attendance within each league.
Cactus League
1,660,663 tickets sold by 15 teams for 216 games (7,688 average)
| Team | Total | Games | Average | Ballpark (Capacity) |
| Chicago Cubs | 213,815 | 15 | 14,254 | Cubs Park (15,000) |
| Colorado Rockies | 169,663 | 16 | 10,604 | Salt River Fields (11,000) |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 144,434 | 14 | 10,317 | Salt River Fields (11,000) |
| San Francisco Giants | 149,969 | 15 | 9,998 | Scottsdale Stadium (12,000) |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 114,402 | 12 | 9,534 | Camelback Ranch (13,000) |
| Seattle Mariners | 116,597 | 15 | 7,773 | Peoria Sports Complex (11,333) |
| Los Angeles Angels | 108,965 | 15 | 7,264 | Tempe Diablo Stadium (9,558) |
| Texas Rangers | 95,181 | 14 | 6,799 | Surprise Stadium (10,500) |
| Chicago White Sox | 87,759 | 13 | 6,751 | Camelback Ranch (13,000) |
| Kansas City Royals | 93,987 | 14 | 6,713 | Surprise Stadium (10,500) |
| San Diego Padres | 75,916 | 14 | 5,423 | Peoria Sports Complex (11,333) |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 75,041 | 14 | 5,360 | Maryvale Baseball Park (10,000) |
| Oakland A's | 78,011 | 15 | 5,201 | Phoenix Municipal Stadium (8,500) |
| Cincinnati Reds | 69,478 | 15 | 4,632 | Goodyear Ballpark (10,311) |
| Cleveland Indians | 67,445 | 15 | 4,496 | Goodyear Ballpark (10,311) |
Grapefruit League
1,451,697 tickets sold by 15 teams for 211 games (6,880 average)
| Team | Total | Games | Average | Ballpark (Capacity) |
| New York Yankees | 151,564 | 15 | 10,104 | Steinbrenner Field (11,076) |
| Boston Red Sox | 147,669 | 15 | 9,845 | JetBlue Park (10,823) |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 121,915 | 15 | 8,128 | Bright House Field (8,500) |
| Detroit Tigers | 116,226 | 15 | 7,748 | Joker Marchant Stadium (9,000) |
| Minnesota Twins | 107,806 | 14 | 7,700 | Hammond Stadium (9,300) |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 91,046 | 12 | 7,587 | McKechnie Field (8,500) |
| Baltimore Orioles | 89,449 | 12 | 7,454 | Ed Smith Stadium (8,500) |
| Atlanta Braves | 124,104 | 17 | 7,300 | Champion Stadium (9,500) |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 96,795 | 14 | 6,914 | Roger Dean Stadium (7,000) |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 78,624 | 14 | 5,616 | Charlotte Sports Park (6,823) |
| Washington Nationals | 77,585 | 14 | 5,542 | Space Coast Stadium (7,200) |
| New York Mets | 76,091 | 14 | 5,435 | Tradition Field (7,160) |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 67,830 | 14 | 4,845 | Florida Auto Exchange Stadium (5,509) |
| Miami Marlins | 60,278 | 14 | 4,306 | Roger Dean Stadium (7,000) |
| Houston Astros | 44,715 | 12 | 3,726 | Osceola County Stadium (5,300) |
|
|
While not included in official spring training attendance, tickets are sold (although usually not at full prices) to the handful of exhibitions played between a major league team and what's usually a collegiate squad. For example, the Red Sox play an annual doubleheader against Boston College and Northeastern University to begin their spring training schedule at JetBlue Park, a DH that 7,789 attended in 2014, when a grand total of 27,661 attended six exhibitions in five spring training ballparks. |
|
