NEW YORK — Major League Baseball’s total regular-season attendance rose for the fourth straight year to 71.75 million, reaching its highest figure since 2017 with a boost from the Tampa Bay Rays’ return to Tropicana Field.
Teams averaged 29,589 for 2,425 dates, a 0.4% increase from the average of 29,471 last year, when attendance totaled 71.4 million. MLB attendance has risen in four straight seasons for the first time since 2004-07.
Individually, 13 teams had increases and 17 dropped.
Tampa Bay had the biggest increase, up 628,255 to 1,414,975 as the Rays won the American League East Division for the first time since 2021. The Rays spent 2025 at Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankees’ spring training ballpark in Tampa, while Tampa Bay’s stadium in St. Petersburg was repaired after being damaged by Hurricane Milton. Steinbrenner Field’s capacity for the Rays was 10,046, and they drew up to 28,055 this year at the Trop.
Five clubs topped 3 million, down from six last year and matching 2024. There were eight in 2023.
The two-time reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, a National League franchise, led the sport with a team-record 4,034,219, an average of 49,805.
The Chicago White Sox, who earned an AL wild card this year by finishing with an 84-78 record after three straight 100-loss seasons, rose 540,687 to 1,986,425.
The Toronto Blue Jays, coming off an AL pennant in 2025, increased 488,943 to 3,338,878, and the Seattle Mariners, who came within one win of reaching the World Series for the first time in club history in 2025, rose 345,745 to 2,883,798.
The New York Mets, who entered the season with the sport’s highest payroll, had the biggest decline, a 472,450 drop to 2,712,120. The Mets had a 12-game losing streak in April and finished last in the NL East for the first time since 2003.
The Houston Astros fell 255,759 to 2,472,118 despite winning the AL West title — with an 81-81 record that was the poorest for a first-place team in any MLB division this year. The Kansas City Royals dropped 221,703 to 1,527,098, and the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies all experienced decreases of 100,000 to 200,000.
The Athletics, based for a second season at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California, before a planned move to a new Las Vegas ballpark in 2028, drew a major league-low attendance of 799,240 and average of 9,867. They played six games at Las Vegas Ballpark, another minor league stadium, and averaged 9,983 in West Sacramento and 8,451 in Las Vegas.
The Miami Marlins dropped from 28th to 29th in attendance at 1,231,018.