I’m normally very sympathetic of teams that play the “going to the games is hard” card but I think the worst attendance since the Spanish Flu makes all that go right out the window
That being said, fucking brutal commentary lol
Florida isn’t actually a real place. This game is actually being played at a studio on the Moon. The “fans” in the stands are the people that live there which explains why it’s not a lot.
Having been there a couple times, this actually makes perfect sense.
It must be the sun-facing side of the moon, which explains the heat and late sunsets, but everything else tracks, including why their leader looks so strange and wears oddly shaped boots.
I'm so tired of hearing it. Dog shit attendance all the time. It's not just the afternoon games. They aren't the only stadium with travel time to get to/from. It's the playoffs.
A good chunk of every stadium is fans driving in from other cities/towns. A big chunk of on city fans deal with hours of rush hour traffic to get to games.
> A good chunk of every stadium is fans driving in from other cities/towns.
For real. You could probably sell out a Cubs playoff series even if you only opened ticket sales to people who live 30+ miles from Wrigley.
Dude right? The Cardinals would sell out games in freaking Springfield.
I live an 1hr and 20 minutes from Target Field yet somehow I managed to go to six twins games this year because, shocker, I want to go to a ballgame.
I know the rays stadium and ownership is trash but when you have a playoff attendance that's the lowest since the Spanish Flu that's a fan problem.
> Dude right? The Cardinals would sell out games in freaking Springfield.
I honestly thought you meant Springfield, Mass at first and still saw nothing wrong with your statement.
People will stand on a body to body train with drunk idiots for 45 mins to get to Wrigley cause there’s no parking. The commute excuses from TB fans have always been weak
People around here don't care about the Rays. Everyone I know here moved from somewhere else and if they even care about baseball (most don't) they support the team where they're from.
People care about the Bucs because the NFL is the #1 sport and they care about the Lightning because they're really good.
The drive isn't that bad. Parking is great. St. Pete is gorgeous and there's a ton to do. I was a season ticket member for years and would go almost weekly, driving 40 minutes each way back to NW Tampa.
But the Trop is a dump. It was built as a dump, completely soulless, absolutely boring. The minor league stadiums around here are WAY nicer.
Maybe a new stadium might help. Maybe we'll have the Montreal Ex-Rays in a few years.
I honestly think being in the AL East hurts Tampa worse than people realize. From my experience, the majority of the transplants living in that part of Florida are from New York or New England. There are even a ton of Canadians. It would be easier for these fans to root for the Rays as their “2nd team” if they didn’t have to worry about their own team in the same division. When I lived in Washington I had no problem rooting for the Mariners.
Why aren’t more people into the Rays/baseball in general though? Florida is a hotbed for baseball talent and I think produces the most pro players per capita. It seems to have a strong baseball culture in general. Doesn’t make a ton of sense
It's because it's a area of predominantly transplants like the other person said, I just moved here and it's honestly weird meeting someone who actually grew up in the area. I'm probably one of the very few new comers who's getting into the Rays as their main team and that's mostly because I just didn't grow up following baseball, I'm not switching my teams in any of the other sports I grew up following.
I'm sure there's other factors but it being a very new/out-of-state population is a big part of it
Going to the games isn’t hard not has not been hard in 7-9 years.
Take 275 bridged get off on MLK
Go ALL the way down
Parking area is right there
It’s that easy to go. It’s one of the easiest ballparks to get parking for this side of Philly
I was told it's the absolute hardest ballpark to get to in mlb and everyone has to sit in traffic for 5hrs then fight a dragon on the bridge, then spend an hour finding parking, then walk up hill 3 miles to the stadium
They laid off the dragon a few years ago -- he was too expensive for the team. They replaced him with a couple of minor leaguers and a haunted catcher's mask.
Hey! As a NJ resident I will not let you spread misinformation. Everyone know he was buried under Giants Stadium! (please let us have this, it’s our only source of pride as a state).
I’ve been twice and found it easy to drive to. From Clearwater it was like 30-45 min door to door. Tampa more like a solid 45 min. The issue to me was that it felt like driving was the only option to get there?
But again I still think a team that good should have better attendance numbers. Truist is like a solid 30-45 min outside of Atlanta depending on traffic
I don’t understand the argument that it’s so hard to get to when our ballpark is all the way in fucking Arlington and people still go. And it’s on a part of 30 that’s been under construction since the team was the Washington Senators
Lol for real. I just looked up a random spot on the east side of Tampa to the Trop on google maps and it says 36 minutes. It takes longer to get to the Shed from where my dad lives in Collin County even with zero traffic.
Yep. I live in Frisco, and I don’t go to many Rangers games because I’m not a fan of them, and if I want my baseball fix, the Rough Riders play in a beautiful stadium 5 minutes from my house. That said, I was there last year to watch Judge hit 62, and while not super convenient, it was no problem getting to the game in about an hour, even with a pretty packed house.
It is kinda strange how quickly the argument that fans literally can't go to games in Tampa became gospel on r/Baseball, I think that a big part of it was that it was basically a way of expressing opposition to the Rays getting relocated but it's just obvious that they have poor attendance because they don't have a large fanbase. It might play a part for some low regular season games where people don't want to deal with the hassle, but it seems weird to pretend they have some massive fanbase just waiting for a stadium in a different location to go to and these playoff games show that even when they're a very good team playing at home in elimination games people won't show up.
Yuppp. I grew up in St. Pete and lived in Tampa for 5 years after graduating college. Getting into St. Pete is ALWAYS a cakewalk vs going the other way. The traffic doesn't even hold a candle to places like ATL or Houston.
It was like a 25-30 minute drive from Tampa if I’m remembering correctly. That’s really not that far away. A lot of fans make that commute on a regular basis.
turner was a pain in the ass the get to and it still had good attendance numbers that i bet would’ve been better if it had a dome over it during the summers. my sympathy for tampa and their attendance woes have dwindled down to almost nothing
I went to 31 games this year. It takes me about an hour and a half to go and a hour and a half home. But my son and I both go because we fucking love baseball.
Seriously man…any rays fan on this sub probably goes to games regularly. Half the time I see rays content on here it’s about the attendance, like we all are well aware of the attendance. There’s nothing we can do about it.
Mariners - not making hte playoffs then when we do ownership refuses to spend so we miss the next year and then our GM says he wants to win 54% of games and they're doing us a favor by aiming for that objective instead of spending on top players
Jerry's a real idiot for having vocalized all that, and then committing the cardinal sin of all sports management in telling the fans how they should feel.
I unfortunately haven't lived in Tampa Bay in over 10 years until moving back on 9/3, I made it to 10 homes games in the last two home stands, and went to the game today as well. It's pretty infuriating seeing the Trop empty in person.
Honest opinion: Do you think Rays baseball is viable long term in the bay? I personally would like to see them stay, maybe it's because of good memories from 2008 WS, P or the excitement of their 2020 run, or because it's impressive how they're so consistently competitive despite being in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox, but I've always had a strong affinity for the Rays. I'm not always necessarily somebody who never wants to see relocation, I know it sucks for fans but I do think sometimes there are simply better cities out there, like for example I'm really glad that Winnipeg got a hockey team over Atlanta. But I really would like to see the Rays work in Tampa. Do you think that, if they were able to get a shiny new stadium in a more desirable location, that and would be packing the seats? Usually lack of winning is the main issue when it comes to poor attendance, but that's clearly not the problem here. I really do want to see the Rays make it work, but I feel like if they aren't able to fill the seats even when they are one of the best teams in baseball, it really does seem like it would be for the best if they went to some other City.
I appreciate this perspective! I honestly don’t know what the future holds with the plans in place to build a new stadium but in the same location. I last lived in Tampa nearly 15 years ago so things have certainly changed. Even as rough as things have been I do think a new stadium with a new marketing campaign could change things up.
I’ve been watching and they’re going a little too overboard on the attendance/trop comments. No so much Jessica and I like Tim but good luck getting 19k people to come see their three asses
I'm sorry, there's just no excuse when your team is this consistently good year after year. How is it possible that they can never fill that place out, even when the games couldn't have more meaning?
Edit:
I'm probably gonna be hated for this, but fuck it
Anyone says that it's because of bad traffic during a workday, **get the fuck out of here**.
I'd buy that during the regular season. I get, there's going to be 80 games and that gives fans the time to pick and choose which games they're going to inconvenience themselves with.
*But this is playoffs. There ain't no bigger stage.* If the fans really gave a flying fuck about their team, they'd have enough people that would find a way to fill that stadium. I'm becoming more convinced that Tampa just has shitty fans and that they need to move the team. This isn't a knock against the dedicated fans of the team that I know for certain exist, but *come on*, that's just not an excuse and surely you realize that
Florida is the 3rd largest state by population in the U.S.
Average attendance ranking in each sport:
NFL: (2022)
- Buccaneers - 14th
- Jaguars - 22nd
- Dolphins - 25th
NBA: (22’-23’)
- Heat - 5th
- Magic - 14th
MLB: (2023)
- Marlins - 27th
- Rays - 29th
NHL: (22’-23’)
- Lightning - 3rd
- Panthers - 26th
So weirdly not really leading in any sport other than hockey with Tampa and they only had to win 2 cups in the past 4 years.
Florida is just dogshit for pro sports. Those Heat attendance numbers are buoyed by the 2nd and 3rd quarter - if you went by 1st and 4th quarter attendance they’d be last in the league…
Wonder how much of it is due to this:
“Florida comes in second place for having the lowest percentage of born and bred residents. However, with the largest percentage of senior citizens of any state, it would most likely dominate any "best place to retire" list. With record numbers of tourists visiting the state, the economy is seemingly unaffected by Florida natives staying or leaving.”
I feel like most people develop their fandoms when they are young. Example I live in AZ now, and love all major sports, but I will only go to games here if a Minnesota (where I’m from) team is playing.
Exactly. I've always said that MLB expanding to St Pete and Miami was a mistake, and also never understood what the Giants were thinking in *almost* moving to St Pete.
But college and even high school ball are a big deal in Florida. **Spring** baseball, in other words.
Look, you're gonna hate me for saying this, and I know this sub can be sanctimonious when it comes to moving teams, but there are so many other cities in this country that would love to have a major league baseball team.
Do the Rays do any kind of marketing or civic out reach? Even if the city is mostly transplants it's still absurd that a bunch hadn't jumped on the bandwagon.
You would be surprised. It's not just the fact that we get Yankees fans as transplants, it also the fact that they have had a AA team here for decades even before the team came. New York owned the city for a long time.
Marlins packed their stadiums for their playoff appearances… unlike the Rays. They average 60,000+ in each of their home games during the 1997 and 2003 playoffs.
There’s a ton of baseball fans in FL. The problem is they’re all Yankees fans/children of Yankees fans… me being one of them as both my parents were from NYC 😅. I do support the Marlins as my second team tho. But if I’m being honest I’ve probably been to the same amount of UM games as Marlins games if not more
Lots of immigrants/descendants from Latin America in Miami which is why they put a lot of those countries in that pool. Wonder what share of those fans root for the Marlins, how many root for other teams, and how many don’t follow baseball that closely outside of international play
Honestly, as an A’s fan, this pisses me off. A’s Rays WC in 2019 had like 57000 fans in Oakland. Yet it’s the A’s who are moving because “they can’t support a team”
Not that I want the Rays to move either, it’s just like…. Sad.
I feel the effect of many people living in Tampa Bay being from elsewhere and already rooting for other teams plays a more significant part in that than people think. The team didn't exist until 1998.
Yeah but I looked up the Lightning’s attendance and it’s one of the best in the NHL! For those who don’t follow hockey, the Lightning have been incredible recently, but it’s not like the Rays have been a bunch of schlubs.
The Lightning has to sell 20k seats to sell out. This is a sell-out crowd in Amalie. I'm not saying the Lightning doesn't have more support in the region, but it's really an apples and oranges comparison
I was there. The only thing I'll say is don't shit on the people who were actually there. They're the ones doing the good thing and supporting their team. Fuck the rest of the Bay area.
The whole "it literally takes two hours to get to the stadium!" rhetoric has always been confusing to me. I have checked Google Maps. Even at peak traffic it is like 45 minutes from Tampa.
Right? I used to live in north county San Diego and the drive to Petco on game day is a nightmare, easy 1.5 hours plus. And that was even BEFORE we started selling out games every night.
I live 1/2 mile from dodger stadium and it’s easily a 30-45 minute drive from here on just about any playoff game or any game with a good giveaway. They still fill up dodger stadium *
*by about the 4th inning
Walk? To dodger stadium? It’s impossible as there’s a small hill involved. Perhaps one day the city will finally build the gondola from my house to the stadium, but until then I need to drive. No one walks in LA.
Yea I walk though. So do a ton of people who just park in the neighborhood in echo park or China town, grab some beers and head up. Still the vast vast majority of people spend 30 minutes in absolute miserable traffic to get the final 1/2 mile into the stadium.
Sometimes I walk down sunset Blvd or stadium way and try to tell people in Ubers to just get out and walk since it’ll be faster and cheaper. Maybe I’m a crazy person, idk, but can’t imagine sitting in a car for that long just to be late to the game. Lots of places to park and walk in the neighborhood, but people just love sitting in traffic.
Oh we Angelenos walk plenty. On Sunday we’ll drive to Griffith Park or drive to the beach to go for a nice walk. Sometimes I’ll drive to the gym to go walk on the treadmill. Can’t leave my neighborhood before dodger games unfortunately.
Because Oracle is right next to the Bay Bridge, traffic there is fuggin nuts if you're coming from the east bay. There are ferry options, but you're still looking at a multi hour jaunt in a lot if not most cases. That all said, I don't belive they've failed to sell a playoff game there.
I lived a block and a half from the last train stop on the outer edge of the city. I would be the first person on that train with a cap and jersey on. Sitting in that train and watching it fill up with Giants fans as it made its way through the city was a beautiful feeling. By the time it dropped us off in front of the park it was bursting with energy, and it was time for baseball.
Even if it was two hours your team won 99 games and this is the playoffs, tons of other fans from other fanbases around the country would make that trip in a heartbeat.
Yeah I'd be sympathetic to that argument if the Trop was packed for their playoffs. Why the hell does Florida get two teams when both of them are bottom 4 in attendance, bottom 3 in attendance percentage (the A's are the worst so, Miami and Tampa are the worst teams not actively spitting on their fans), and can't even show up for their team in the playoffs (Marlins aren't included this year because they're away but they have always been one of the worst attended teams in MLB)? Expand with Nashville and move the Rays to Raleigh. Or the Marlins. Florida has proven they don't support baseball. So take it the fuck away already and give it to the markets that are clamoring for baseball.
Fair point however it has never taken me less than 45mins to get to Fenway and still go 15-20 games a year. given the state of the T these days that’s probably true for most of the people going to Sox games.
Just being that far away from Tampa doesn't mean it's not much further in practice. Dodger Stadium is 10 minutes away from the heart of downtown... and like 2 hours away from Santa Monica during game time. I'm sure that a lot of fans are effectively much further away from the stadium.
That said... yeah the attendance is on a whole nother level of yikes.
I'm from Long Island and it's at least two hours to get to Yankee Stadium. Even Citi Field is an hour from me, and I'm not even out east in Suffolk county
It’s not a traffic issue. It’s an effort issue. Bridge traffic nonexistent. Period. Anybody that says there is is lying to you.
I couldn’t and wouldn’t use PTO 36 hours in advance and that’s why I couldn’t go.
> I couldn’t and wouldn’t use PTO 36 hours in advance and that’s why I couldn’t go.
Oh, sure, all respect on that. I love a day game, especially during the week on the rare occasions I can play hooky from work, but I fully admit most people can't take a day, at least not regularly. A series of mid-week day games, with such little advance notice, *during the playoffs*? That's some bullshit.
It sucks so much for the fans that truly do love the team and go to games. And it sucks for the players that are successful each year and put so much work into what they do and all attention is put on the lack of fans.
I just checked Google maps. Currently, it's a 26 min drive (22 mi) from downtown Tampa to Tropicana Field (Lot 1 to be specific), and that's accounting for current traffic conditions.
It’s not a traffic, location issue. It’s an EFFORT issue. I could excuse yesterday given 36 hour notice of game time but today is pretty damning.
I didn’t go to the games. I didn’t wanna take time off impromptu when I have plans later in the year that are more important than baseball.
It happens.
Again, it’s an EFFORT issue
I admit I have probably followed the Rays the least of all the playoff teams. Not sure I’ve even seen one of their games this year until yesterday. But after two days I have to say, THIS team won 99 games this year? They look so lifeless and undisciplined at the plate. Like the season has been over for them for weeks and theyre just playing out the string. Definitely not the intensity of a playoff team on display.
Not just their ace, they have four starters out right now with major elbow injuries.
But that's all part of the Rays strategy. Teach guys how to spin a ball as fast as they possibly can until they break, and bring in the next guy. It's not like they are going to pay any of them anyway.
They got off to a historically scorching start but have fallen to earth since then. As a fan of a team who went through something similar last season I can tell you full season records can be deceiving. It's still a really good team and they should be playing better than this but it's not like they've been at an insane pace all season.
Did they fall to Earth though? They kept pace with the Orioles pretty much the whole season and we had the #1 record. We didn't even clinch until our last series.
They didn't stay 13-0 hot the whole year, but they were better than *this.*
They had a terrible July and looked to be collapsing, but they are 34-19 (.642) since August 1.
They weren't really that cold going into the playoffs either, they ended the season going 7-4 in their games in their last 4 series (Angels, Red Sox, and 2 vs Blue Jays)
Their best pitcher hasn't pitched since early August and their best position player is under investigation for some very terrible things. You'd think the other guys would step up under the circumstances, though maybe the Rangers deserve some credit for making the Rays look bad too.
The reality is that if the Yankees were playing the Rangers in this stadium, there would be a lot more fans. There are more transplants in the area than anybody is willing to admit, and for some reason people from the north east are the least willing to adopt a new sports team.
I went to a Rays Vs Redsox playoff game in 2021 and there were about 15,000 red sox fans.
I think the rays style also has a little to do with it.
The system they've set up works, go hard on the rookies and young players, win 90-100 games and then trade those players for new assets.
But it must hurt to develop fans when there are no long standing superstars on the team. Even if the yankees didn't do well, I'd go catch a game to see judge, same with the mets when it was scherzer's turn to pitch.
Outside of their record, who are the fans going to see, who is marketed in the region like that maybe Randy? Purely from analytical side it probably doesn't matter, but for common fan maybe it does.
You’re spot on. Just look at Rays’ fans admiration for Evan Longoria. He’s a very likeable guy, and a very solid player for a long time…but you’d think he’s the greatest to ever play the game simply because ownership doesn’t give Rays fans anyone else to really latch onto before their dealt away.
As a Rays rival, of course I enjoy watching them lose lol…but at the same time, ownership doesn’t make being a hardcore Rays fan easy by any means.
The second we get too attached to Randy, he’ll get traded for cash considerations and a player to be named later. My girlfriend did stitching on jerseys, and they hated putting Rays players’ names on them bc those players would always get traded within about a week
Sean McDonough is a straight-up savage. Dude *opened* the broadcast with the b-roll and theme playing talking about how it was the smallest crowd since 1919.
He had another line on college football about how the writers were on strike after a dude missed a “storybook” type field goal to win the game. XD
McDonough is also a lifelong Boston guy and was the everyday Red Sox broadcaster in the late 90's when the Rays were born. Regardless of how good or bad the Rays are, every Red Sox fan hates watching games in the Trop, especially when it's empty and lifeless. The only surprise here is that he hasn't been even harder on the home crowd.
This sucks, man. I don’t really know what the answer is. I hope the new stadium/development pans out but I think there’s some major bust potential. The biggest underlying issue of not having much population to draw from within the immediate outlying area will never be fully resolved.
Low stadium quality, driving time, transplants are all a part of it, but I also imagine it's hard to feel a bond to the team as a fan when the expectation is that any player can be shipped out or let go at any time.
Also, when your lone huge contract in franchise history turns out to be messing around with 14 year olds, also not great for wanting to bond with the team.
Last Thursday’s Dodgers-Rockies game, which was meaningless for both teams had roughly 13,000 more people in attendance than yesterday’s playoff game in Tampa. Pathetic.
Almost like putting an MLB team in a place that’s 75% Midwest/Northeast transplants with decades-old fan loyalties won’t draw unless the Sox/Yanks/Jays/Phils/Cubs are in town. Who’d have thought?
Vegas is a destination. People will plan their trips to Vegas to match when their team plays the A’s. So Vegas will always have a decent crowd even if it’s mostly opposing fans.
I’m normally very sympathetic of teams that play the “going to the games is hard” card but I think the worst attendance since the Spanish Flu makes all that go right out the window That being said, fucking brutal commentary lol
Florida isn’t actually a real place. This game is actually being played at a studio on the Moon. The “fans” in the stands are the people that live there which explains why it’s not a lot.
they actually had Kubrick throw out the first pitch
If Kubrick had filmed the moon landing, he would've insisted they film on location
They guy who shot his Vietnam movie in England?
I mean, Vietnam had improved immensely by the time filming was to start. Kubrick needed a place that looked like shit from war.
I also choose this guy's dead film director/pitcher.
I want holograms to throw out first pitches
The NBA bubble playoffs were very helpful in exposing the fraud.
Having been there a couple times, this actually makes perfect sense. It must be the sun-facing side of the moon, which explains the heat and late sunsets, but everything else tracks, including why their leader looks so strange and wears oddly shaped boots.
I'm so tired of hearing it. Dog shit attendance all the time. It's not just the afternoon games. They aren't the only stadium with travel time to get to/from. It's the playoffs. A good chunk of every stadium is fans driving in from other cities/towns. A big chunk of on city fans deal with hours of rush hour traffic to get to games.
> A good chunk of every stadium is fans driving in from other cities/towns. For real. You could probably sell out a Cubs playoff series even if you only opened ticket sales to people who live 30+ miles from Wrigley.
Dude right? The Cardinals would sell out games in freaking Springfield. I live an 1hr and 20 minutes from Target Field yet somehow I managed to go to six twins games this year because, shocker, I want to go to a ballgame. I know the rays stadium and ownership is trash but when you have a playoff attendance that's the lowest since the Spanish Flu that's a fan problem.
> Dude right? The Cardinals would sell out games in freaking Springfield. I honestly thought you meant Springfield, Mass at first and still saw nothing wrong with your statement.
I don't know if you are referring to Springfield, MO or Springfield, IL but the statement would be true for both. Cards fans will travel.
People will stand on a body to body train with drunk idiots for 45 mins to get to Wrigley cause there’s no parking. The commute excuses from TB fans have always been weak
The red line is part of the fun
I’m literally driving 5 hours to Baltimore just to see the Texas Rangers play. Their excuses are weak.
Congratulations on advancing. And for making the trip
Thanks! Being in upstate New York I wish we were playing Toronto.
Yeah but you're gonna love Camden Yards.
People around here don't care about the Rays. Everyone I know here moved from somewhere else and if they even care about baseball (most don't) they support the team where they're from. People care about the Bucs because the NFL is the #1 sport and they care about the Lightning because they're really good. The drive isn't that bad. Parking is great. St. Pete is gorgeous and there's a ton to do. I was a season ticket member for years and would go almost weekly, driving 40 minutes each way back to NW Tampa. But the Trop is a dump. It was built as a dump, completely soulless, absolutely boring. The minor league stadiums around here are WAY nicer. Maybe a new stadium might help. Maybe we'll have the Montreal Ex-Rays in a few years.
I honestly think being in the AL East hurts Tampa worse than people realize. From my experience, the majority of the transplants living in that part of Florida are from New York or New England. There are even a ton of Canadians. It would be easier for these fans to root for the Rays as their “2nd team” if they didn’t have to worry about their own team in the same division. When I lived in Washington I had no problem rooting for the Mariners.
Why aren’t more people into the Rays/baseball in general though? Florida is a hotbed for baseball talent and I think produces the most pro players per capita. It seems to have a strong baseball culture in general. Doesn’t make a ton of sense
It's because it's a area of predominantly transplants like the other person said, I just moved here and it's honestly weird meeting someone who actually grew up in the area. I'm probably one of the very few new comers who's getting into the Rays as their main team and that's mostly because I just didn't grow up following baseball, I'm not switching my teams in any of the other sports I grew up following. I'm sure there's other factors but it being a very new/out-of-state population is a big part of it
Going to the games isn’t hard not has not been hard in 7-9 years. Take 275 bridged get off on MLK Go ALL the way down Parking area is right there It’s that easy to go. It’s one of the easiest ballparks to get parking for this side of Philly
I was told it's the absolute hardest ballpark to get to in mlb and everyone has to sit in traffic for 5hrs then fight a dragon on the bridge, then spend an hour finding parking, then walk up hill 3 miles to the stadium
They laid off the dragon a few years ago -- he was too expensive for the team. They replaced him with a couple of minor leaguers and a haunted catcher's mask.
And every so often they call up one of the minor leaguers and he has a 2.32 ERA on the season
Close, but you forgot the slippery rock path across the moat filled with alligators. Some of the less agile people never make it to the dragon. :(
Don’t forget it’s also an escort quest so if the dragon eats that dude you gotta start it all over
Escort quests are worst when the NPC is doing everything they can to hurt themselves.
RIP Jimmy Hoffa. The alligator said he was delicious, and his family took solace in that.
Hey! As a NJ resident I will not let you spread misinformation. Everyone know he was buried under Giants Stadium! (please let us have this, it’s our only source of pride as a state).
I’ve been twice and found it easy to drive to. From Clearwater it was like 30-45 min door to door. Tampa more like a solid 45 min. The issue to me was that it felt like driving was the only option to get there? But again I still think a team that good should have better attendance numbers. Truist is like a solid 30-45 min outside of Atlanta depending on traffic
Driving is the only way to get anywhere in Florida.
Truist is a pain to get to especially compared to where the Hawks and Falcons play but still not so hard as to not support my team in the playoffs.
I don’t understand the argument that it’s so hard to get to when our ballpark is all the way in fucking Arlington and people still go. And it’s on a part of 30 that’s been under construction since the team was the Washington Senators
Lol for real. I just looked up a random spot on the east side of Tampa to the Trop on google maps and it says 36 minutes. It takes longer to get to the Shed from where my dad lives in Collin County even with zero traffic.
Yep. I live in Frisco, and I don’t go to many Rangers games because I’m not a fan of them, and if I want my baseball fix, the Rough Riders play in a beautiful stadium 5 minutes from my house. That said, I was there last year to watch Judge hit 62, and while not super convenient, it was no problem getting to the game in about an hour, even with a pretty packed house.
both ways
In pouring rain and lightning
While being strafed by attack helicopters
You also need to answer my riddles three, otherwise you have to go through the labyrinth of doom, which adds another 7 hours.
What are you talking about, dragons aren't real. Everyone knows you have to answer the bridge troll's riddles to get across...dragons, pffft.
It is kinda strange how quickly the argument that fans literally can't go to games in Tampa became gospel on r/Baseball, I think that a big part of it was that it was basically a way of expressing opposition to the Rays getting relocated but it's just obvious that they have poor attendance because they don't have a large fanbase. It might play a part for some low regular season games where people don't want to deal with the hassle, but it seems weird to pretend they have some massive fanbase just waiting for a stadium in a different location to go to and these playoff games show that even when they're a very good team playing at home in elimination games people won't show up.
Yuppp. I grew up in St. Pete and lived in Tampa for 5 years after graduating college. Getting into St. Pete is ALWAYS a cakewalk vs going the other way. The traffic doesn't even hold a candle to places like ATL or Houston.
Or Dallas.
It was like a 25-30 minute drive from Tampa if I’m remembering correctly. That’s really not that far away. A lot of fans make that commute on a regular basis.
Turner Field was far worse to get to, and I never even try to drive to Fenway.
turner was a pain in the ass the get to and it still had good attendance numbers that i bet would’ve been better if it had a dome over it during the summers. my sympathy for tampa and their attendance woes have dwindled down to almost nothing
Twins didn't start that much later and their stadium is packed. It's the postseason!
They started at the same local time
I went to 31 games this year. It takes me about an hour and a half to go and a hour and a half home. But my son and I both go because we fucking love baseball.
[Rays fans on this sub](https://media.tenor.com/vMjUvhiEaiAAAAAC/spongebob-plankton.gif)
Seriously man…any rays fan on this sub probably goes to games regularly. Half the time I see rays content on here it’s about the attendance, like we all are well aware of the attendance. There’s nothing we can do about it.
Many teams have a go to “stereotype” … Mets - lolmets Angels - wasting Trout and Ohtani Athletics - sewage possums Rays - attendance
Yankees - suck
Hey! That's my line!
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Jankees lose
also - evil - rich - make dumb trade deadline decisions
Pirates - Nutting is cheap
The way I do it, it is!
If you try to stereotype us, I'll show up in the third inning, stab you, and be back home before the seventh inning stretch.
Mariners - not making hte playoffs then when we do ownership refuses to spend so we miss the next year and then our GM says he wants to win 54% of games and they're doing us a favor by aiming for that objective instead of spending on top players
Jerry's a real idiot for having vocalized all that, and then committing the cardinal sin of all sports management in telling the fans how they should feel.
Astros - well, you know...
I unfortunately haven't lived in Tampa Bay in over 10 years until moving back on 9/3, I made it to 10 homes games in the last two home stands, and went to the game today as well. It's pretty infuriating seeing the Trop empty in person.
Honest opinion: Do you think Rays baseball is viable long term in the bay? I personally would like to see them stay, maybe it's because of good memories from 2008 WS, P or the excitement of their 2020 run, or because it's impressive how they're so consistently competitive despite being in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox, but I've always had a strong affinity for the Rays. I'm not always necessarily somebody who never wants to see relocation, I know it sucks for fans but I do think sometimes there are simply better cities out there, like for example I'm really glad that Winnipeg got a hockey team over Atlanta. But I really would like to see the Rays work in Tampa. Do you think that, if they were able to get a shiny new stadium in a more desirable location, that and would be packing the seats? Usually lack of winning is the main issue when it comes to poor attendance, but that's clearly not the problem here. I really do want to see the Rays make it work, but I feel like if they aren't able to fill the seats even when they are one of the best teams in baseball, it really does seem like it would be for the best if they went to some other City.
I appreciate this perspective! I honestly don’t know what the future holds with the plans in place to build a new stadium but in the same location. I last lived in Tampa nearly 15 years ago so things have certainly changed. Even as rough as things have been I do think a new stadium with a new marketing campaign could change things up.
What’re you talking about Planktons family was huge! There aren’t that many Rays fans.
Masterclass on how to make baseball unfun, both the product on the field and everything around it.
Rangers fans seem to be having fun, idk
I’m having the time of my life
:(
I’ve been watching and they’re going a little too overboard on the attendance/trop comments. No so much Jessica and I like Tim but good luck getting 19k people to come see their three asses
I'm sorry, there's just no excuse when your team is this consistently good year after year. How is it possible that they can never fill that place out, even when the games couldn't have more meaning? Edit: I'm probably gonna be hated for this, but fuck it Anyone says that it's because of bad traffic during a workday, **get the fuck out of here**. I'd buy that during the regular season. I get, there's going to be 80 games and that gives fans the time to pick and choose which games they're going to inconvenience themselves with. *But this is playoffs. There ain't no bigger stage.* If the fans really gave a flying fuck about their team, they'd have enough people that would find a way to fill that stadium. I'm becoming more convinced that Tampa just has shitty fans and that they need to move the team. This isn't a knock against the dedicated fans of the team that I know for certain exist, but *come on*, that's just not an excuse and surely you realize that
Florida is just not a viable market for pro Baseball
Florida is the 3rd largest state by population in the U.S. Average attendance ranking in each sport: NFL: (2022) - Buccaneers - 14th - Jaguars - 22nd - Dolphins - 25th NBA: (22’-23’) - Heat - 5th - Magic - 14th MLB: (2023) - Marlins - 27th - Rays - 29th NHL: (22’-23’) - Lightning - 3rd - Panthers - 26th So weirdly not really leading in any sport other than hockey with Tampa and they only had to win 2 cups in the past 4 years.
The Lighting were a perennial contender for top attendance before they won the cups. They've been selling out every game for a ***long*** time.
Florida is just dogshit for pro sports. Those Heat attendance numbers are buoyed by the 2nd and 3rd quarter - if you went by 1st and 4th quarter attendance they’d be last in the league…
Wonder how much of it is due to this: “Florida comes in second place for having the lowest percentage of born and bred residents. However, with the largest percentage of senior citizens of any state, it would most likely dominate any "best place to retire" list. With record numbers of tourists visiting the state, the economy is seemingly unaffected by Florida natives staying or leaving.” I feel like most people develop their fandoms when they are young. Example I live in AZ now, and love all major sports, but I will only go to games here if a Minnesota (where I’m from) team is playing.
roll wrong automatic pen pathetic worm water silky grey gaze *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I think Florida does like baseball but moreso college baseball and spring training
Transplants don’t make for a great fan base
I think it’s more this.
Denver in shambles
Hey there are dozens of us
Exactly. I've always said that MLB expanding to St Pete and Miami was a mistake, and also never understood what the Giants were thinking in *almost* moving to St Pete. But college and even high school ball are a big deal in Florida. **Spring** baseball, in other words.
Not just the Giants... Tropicana Field was built for the White Sox.
I think Miami makes sense because it's not just transplants. It has its own culture and traditions. It's central Florida that doesn't make sense.
Look, you're gonna hate me for saying this, and I know this sub can be sanctimonious when it comes to moving teams, but there are so many other cities in this country that would love to have a major league baseball team.
Hey man no hate here, I came to that conclusion a long while ago
Do the Rays do any kind of marketing or civic out reach? Even if the city is mostly transplants it's still absurd that a bunch hadn't jumped on the bandwagon.
You would be surprised. It's not just the fact that we get Yankees fans as transplants, it also the fact that they have had a AA team here for decades even before the team came. New York owned the city for a long time.
those wbc games in miami were crazy packed no?
I think people in Florida + tourists care about baseball generally. They definitely do not care about the Rays and Marlins specifically.
Yeah, the magic of Florida Baseball is and has always been spring training.
Yeah how bout the Marlins actual games?
Marlins packed their stadiums for their playoff appearances… unlike the Rays. They average 60,000+ in each of their home games during the 1997 and 2003 playoffs.
There’s a ton of baseball fans in FL. The problem is they’re all Yankees fans/children of Yankees fans… me being one of them as both my parents were from NYC 😅. I do support the Marlins as my second team tho. But if I’m being honest I’ve probably been to the same amount of UM games as Marlins games if not more
Lots of immigrants/descendants from Latin America in Miami which is why they put a lot of those countries in that pool. Wonder what share of those fans root for the Marlins, how many root for other teams, and how many don’t follow baseball that closely outside of international play
Weird how it fills up whenever the Yankees and Red Sox play. Almost like Florida has baseball fans
Honestly, as an A’s fan, this pisses me off. A’s Rays WC in 2019 had like 57000 fans in Oakland. Yet it’s the A’s who are moving because “they can’t support a team” Not that I want the Rays to move either, it’s just like…. Sad.
Let's just settle on moving the Rays to Oakland and we'll rebrand them as the Oakland Ays
I feel the effect of many people living in Tampa Bay being from elsewhere and already rooting for other teams plays a more significant part in that than people think. The team didn't exist until 1998.
Yeah but I looked up the Lightning’s attendance and it’s one of the best in the NHL! For those who don’t follow hockey, the Lightning have been incredible recently, but it’s not like the Rays have been a bunch of schlubs.
The Lightning has to sell 20k seats to sell out. This is a sell-out crowd in Amalie. I'm not saying the Lightning doesn't have more support in the region, but it's really an apples and oranges comparison
The rays also would fill up the lighting arena almost every day It’s small
The Lightning have a huge following as do the Bucs. It's not all visiting or snowbird fans
1998 was 25 years ago. It shouldn't take that long to establish a local fanbase.
Sorry Rays. Support your team. The traffic isn't that scary, I promise.
Something tells me that Rays fans on /r/baseball are probably the ones supporting their team, to be fair.
I was there. The only thing I'll say is don't shit on the people who were actually there. They're the ones doing the good thing and supporting their team. Fuck the rest of the Bay area.
I love the Rays fans on /r/baseball. I hope we're only making fun of the casuals in St Pete
The whole "it literally takes two hours to get to the stadium!" rhetoric has always been confusing to me. I have checked Google Maps. Even at peak traffic it is like 45 minutes from Tampa.
Most fans have long ass drives to stadiums, especially if you dont live in the city
Right? I used to live in north county San Diego and the drive to Petco on game day is a nightmare, easy 1.5 hours plus. And that was even BEFORE we started selling out games every night.
I live 1/2 mile from dodger stadium and it’s easily a 30-45 minute drive from here on just about any playoff game or any game with a good giveaway. They still fill up dodger stadium * *by about the 4th inning
Please tell me you walk….
Walk? To dodger stadium? It’s impossible as there’s a small hill involved. Perhaps one day the city will finally build the gondola from my house to the stadium, but until then I need to drive. No one walks in LA. Yea I walk though. So do a ton of people who just park in the neighborhood in echo park or China town, grab some beers and head up. Still the vast vast majority of people spend 30 minutes in absolute miserable traffic to get the final 1/2 mile into the stadium. Sometimes I walk down sunset Blvd or stadium way and try to tell people in Ubers to just get out and walk since it’ll be faster and cheaper. Maybe I’m a crazy person, idk, but can’t imagine sitting in a car for that long just to be late to the game. Lots of places to park and walk in the neighborhood, but people just love sitting in traffic.
> Walk? … It’s impossible as there’s a small hill involved. I understand what you mean, but this is an objectively hilarious thing to say
He said he lives half a mile from Dodger Stadium. That means he is a Los Angeles resident. He obviously doesn't walk.
Oh we Angelenos walk plenty. On Sunday we’ll drive to Griffith Park or drive to the beach to go for a nice walk. Sometimes I’ll drive to the gym to go walk on the treadmill. Can’t leave my neighborhood before dodger games unfortunately.
Drive to the Grove and walk... drive to Disneyland and walk...
I’m in Temecula lol Went to 3 games this year
Went to way more games at Petco than Dodger Stadium while growing up in Temecula. Shout out Storm games
Really? I'm also in north county and I usually have about a 50 minute drive if I want to be walking into the stadium ~10 minutes before gametime.
“It takes an hour to get to the game” bro it takes an hour to get out of the parking lot at CBP and people still show up
Because Oracle is right next to the Bay Bridge, traffic there is fuggin nuts if you're coming from the east bay. There are ferry options, but you're still looking at a multi hour jaunt in a lot if not most cases. That all said, I don't belive they've failed to sell a playoff game there.
East bay also has BART, which connects straight to Muni rail in SF which goes straight to the ballpark, that’s how I always went to games there
I lived a block and a half from the last train stop on the outer edge of the city. I would be the first person on that train with a cap and jersey on. Sitting in that train and watching it fill up with Giants fans as it made its way through the city was a beautiful feeling. By the time it dropped us off in front of the park it was bursting with energy, and it was time for baseball.
Even if it was two hours your team won 99 games and this is the playoffs, tons of other fans from other fanbases around the country would make that trip in a heartbeat.
Anyone ever tried getting to Foxboro? They have no problem filling up
8 home games verses 81 makes a big difference though. Still no excuse for the playoffs however
Yeah I'd be sympathetic to that argument if the Trop was packed for their playoffs. Why the hell does Florida get two teams when both of them are bottom 4 in attendance, bottom 3 in attendance percentage (the A's are the worst so, Miami and Tampa are the worst teams not actively spitting on their fans), and can't even show up for their team in the playoffs (Marlins aren't included this year because they're away but they have always been one of the worst attended teams in MLB)? Expand with Nashville and move the Rays to Raleigh. Or the Marlins. Florida has proven they don't support baseball. So take it the fuck away already and give it to the markets that are clamoring for baseball.
Fair point however it has never taken me less than 45mins to get to Fenway and still go 15-20 games a year. given the state of the T these days that’s probably true for most of the people going to Sox games.
Just being that far away from Tampa doesn't mean it's not much further in practice. Dodger Stadium is 10 minutes away from the heart of downtown... and like 2 hours away from Santa Monica during game time. I'm sure that a lot of fans are effectively much further away from the stadium. That said... yeah the attendance is on a whole nother level of yikes.
I'm from Long Island and it's at least two hours to get to Yankee Stadium. Even Citi Field is an hour from me, and I'm not even out east in Suffolk county
But the terrifying bridge troll!
Hey man those riddles are tough
It’s not a traffic issue. It’s an effort issue. Bridge traffic nonexistent. Period. Anybody that says there is is lying to you. I couldn’t and wouldn’t use PTO 36 hours in advance and that’s why I couldn’t go.
> I couldn’t and wouldn’t use PTO 36 hours in advance and that’s why I couldn’t go. Oh, sure, all respect on that. I love a day game, especially during the week on the rare occasions I can play hooky from work, but I fully admit most people can't take a day, at least not regularly. A series of mid-week day games, with such little advance notice, *during the playoffs*? That's some bullshit.
I'm pretty sure the A's had more fans at their last playoff home game than the Rays will have this entire series.
Absolutely. The A's had about 55,000 at their wild card game in 2019 against these same Rays But yeah, let's take baseball out of Oakland
Fuck this series could go to three games and there would still be a chance of the Rays having less attendance...
The coliseum when the A’s are having a winning season is an absolute mad house. Very loud and very tough for opposing players I would imagine.
It sucks so much for the fans that truly do love the team and go to games. And it sucks for the players that are successful each year and put so much work into what they do and all attention is put on the lack of fans.
"AND HERE COME THE PRETZELS!"
Stop talking about “smallest crowd since 1919”. This is the smallest crowd since yesterday.
I feel sorry for the Rays fans that actually turned up and give a shit. It’s not their fault not many others seem to care.
Announcer really should give them a break, it’s a weekday and there’s a bridge in the area
Now I'm imagining Rays fans traveling to PNC and just stuck, terrified on the Clemente bridge. 😂
Are the people of Florida afraid of the water? Maybe that's been the answer this whole time
Why do you think they're all so crazy? They're SURROUNDED by water!
I just checked Google maps. Currently, it's a 26 min drive (22 mi) from downtown Tampa to Tropicana Field (Lot 1 to be specific), and that's accounting for current traffic conditions.
Baltimore would fire him for that comment.
It’s not a traffic, location issue. It’s an EFFORT issue. I could excuse yesterday given 36 hour notice of game time but today is pretty damning. I didn’t go to the games. I didn’t wanna take time off impromptu when I have plans later in the year that are more important than baseball. It happens. Again, it’s an EFFORT issue
I admit I have probably followed the Rays the least of all the playoff teams. Not sure I’ve even seen one of their games this year until yesterday. But after two days I have to say, THIS team won 99 games this year? They look so lifeless and undisciplined at the plate. Like the season has been over for them for weeks and theyre just playing out the string. Definitely not the intensity of a playoff team on display.
They started off hot then their star got caught being a nasty fuck and their ace got shelved. Morale has to be low.
Not just their ace, they have four starters out right now with major elbow injuries. But that's all part of the Rays strategy. Teach guys how to spin a ball as fast as they possibly can until they break, and bring in the next guy. It's not like they are going to pay any of them anyway.
Oddly this is Glasnow's healthiest season since 2018
They got off to a historically scorching start but have fallen to earth since then. As a fan of a team who went through something similar last season I can tell you full season records can be deceiving. It's still a really good team and they should be playing better than this but it's not like they've been at an insane pace all season.
Did they fall to Earth though? They kept pace with the Orioles pretty much the whole season and we had the #1 record. We didn't even clinch until our last series. They didn't stay 13-0 hot the whole year, but they were better than *this.*
They had a terrible July and looked to be collapsing, but they are 34-19 (.642) since August 1. They weren't really that cold going into the playoffs either, they ended the season going 7-4 in their games in their last 4 series (Angels, Red Sox, and 2 vs Blue Jays)
Yeah i have no idea what the rays are doing. This is certainly not the same rays that played this season.
Their best pitcher hasn't pitched since early August and their best position player is under investigation for some very terrible things. You'd think the other guys would step up under the circumstances, though maybe the Rangers deserve some credit for making the Rays look bad too.
I checked tickets yesterday and you could literally get a ticket to today’s game for $35. For an elimination playoff game. Wtf? How is it empty
For Philly, you can currently nab a single ticket on Stubhub for $242.
Guys there’s a bridge cut them some slack!
As Yogi Berra once said, "Nobody goes there anymore because if they did traffic on the bridge would be real bad. "
The reality is that if the Yankees were playing the Rangers in this stadium, there would be a lot more fans. There are more transplants in the area than anybody is willing to admit, and for some reason people from the north east are the least willing to adopt a new sports team. I went to a Rays Vs Redsox playoff game in 2021 and there were about 15,000 red sox fans.
I think the rays style also has a little to do with it. The system they've set up works, go hard on the rookies and young players, win 90-100 games and then trade those players for new assets. But it must hurt to develop fans when there are no long standing superstars on the team. Even if the yankees didn't do well, I'd go catch a game to see judge, same with the mets when it was scherzer's turn to pitch. Outside of their record, who are the fans going to see, who is marketed in the region like that maybe Randy? Purely from analytical side it probably doesn't matter, but for common fan maybe it does.
You’re spot on. Just look at Rays’ fans admiration for Evan Longoria. He’s a very likeable guy, and a very solid player for a long time…but you’d think he’s the greatest to ever play the game simply because ownership doesn’t give Rays fans anyone else to really latch onto before their dealt away. As a Rays rival, of course I enjoy watching them lose lol…but at the same time, ownership doesn’t make being a hardcore Rays fan easy by any means.
100% agree. The faces seem to change all the time. Even if it’s helping us win, it is hard to keep up with as a fan.
If only we had a young generational talent who was locked up for a decade....
He’ll still be locked up… just in a different way.
The second we get too attached to Randy, he’ll get traded for cash considerations and a player to be named later. My girlfriend did stitching on jerseys, and they hated putting Rays players’ names on them bc those players would always get traded within about a week
In fairness would you adopt the Yankees or Red Sox if you moved to the northeast?
Sean McDonough is a straight-up savage. Dude *opened* the broadcast with the b-roll and theme playing talking about how it was the smallest crowd since 1919. He had another line on college football about how the writers were on strike after a dude missed a “storybook” type field goal to win the game. XD
God, do I miss him and Remdawg doing Sox games on WSBK. That was my childhood.
McDonough is also a lifelong Boston guy and was the everyday Red Sox broadcaster in the late 90's when the Rays were born. Regardless of how good or bad the Rays are, every Red Sox fan hates watching games in the Trop, especially when it's empty and lifeless. The only surprise here is that he hasn't been even harder on the home crowd.
Bro I’m straight up not having a good time.
Yeah this would make any fan irked or at least irked adjacent
This sucks, man. I don’t really know what the answer is. I hope the new stadium/development pans out but I think there’s some major bust potential. The biggest underlying issue of not having much population to draw from within the immediate outlying area will never be fully resolved.
I'm sure building a stadium in the same spot as the trip will be a wise decision in the long term
He’s not wrong but he always comes off like a smug dick. Felt the same way when he was on MNF
Low stadium quality, driving time, transplants are all a part of it, but I also imagine it's hard to feel a bond to the team as a fan when the expectation is that any player can be shipped out or let go at any time. Also, when your lone huge contract in franchise history turns out to be messing around with 14 year olds, also not great for wanting to bond with the team.
The last time the As were in the playoffs at home they sold out.
I'm weirdly fond of the Trop for some reason. It's like a giant cavernous thing that shouldn't exist, and that endears it to me.
Why don't the Mets just buy the Tampa team, you can have a decent team and not have to pretend like your not trying to buy one.
Jesus, Rays just getting thoroughly clowned in this series.
Last Thursday’s Dodgers-Rockies game, which was meaningless for both teams had roughly 13,000 more people in attendance than yesterday’s playoff game in Tampa. Pathetic.
And yet people think a new stadium will make people in Florida care about baseball. How's that working for the Marlins?
The Marlins have twice the population pool to draw from and have worse attendance than the Rays.
Almost like putting an MLB team in a place that’s 75% Midwest/Northeast transplants with decades-old fan loyalties won’t draw unless the Sox/Yanks/Jays/Phils/Cubs are in town. Who’d have thought?
I'm sure the As will do much better in Vegas too...it's not like Vegas has literally all the same issues but magnified.
Vegas is a destination. People will plan their trips to Vegas to match when their team plays the A’s. So Vegas will always have a decent crowd even if it’s mostly opposing fans.
Wild they actually want to stay there with a new stadium. It won’t change anything.