If I had to assume, I would’ve guessed that the Triple-A Syracuse Mets are a more popular draw to the ballpark than the Oakland Athletics. Seeing that it’s true isn’t surprising, but it’s still sad. For the A’s, at least.
JJ Cooper of Baseball America made an observation that of the 13 Triple-A games played on Tuesday, a whopping 11 of them drew more fans than the A’s did. In a walk-off win over the Cleveland Guardians, the announced attendance at the RingCentral Coliseum was just 3,407 fans.
As Michael Mayer of Metsmerized points out, the Mets’ Triple-A squad nearly doubled that:
Mets' Triple-A affiliate Syracuse Mets had announced attendance of 5,593 on Tuesday. https://t.co/5VcWK5uXg7
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) April 5, 2023
This was the Mets’ home opener for the 2023 season, which is something to note. However, the first pitch of the game was thrown at 2:11 pm ET… on a Tuesday afternoon. You’d have to imagine some kids had a short day of school to get to the ballpark. But the fact that Syracuse could outdraw an MLB team — who played a night game on the same day — is pretty sad.
Then again, there are likely people making an argument that the Mets’ Triple-A team has a more exciting squad.
When looking at MLB Pipeline‘s top-10 Mets prospects, four play in Syracuse. This includes Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, and Mark Vientos. Two of them — Alvarez and Baty — are ranked among the top 25 prospects in all of baseball, according to MLB.com.
They provided tremendous firepower at the plate during their opening series in Worcester over the weekend. So, you can’t blame anyone for making it a point to get to the ballpark for the home opener.
This kind of attendance comparison will probably continue throughout the 2023 season. It’ll be interesting to see how the numbers shake out once the dust settles.
MORE ON ESNY:
• Brewers fans try intimidating Mets’ Eduardo Escobar with cat costumes
• 4 ‘highlights’ from Luis Guillorme pitching in Mets blowout loss
• Mets’ Kodai Senga has a ‘Ghost Fork’ glove, and it’s amazing
• Mets’ Carlos Carrasco’s rough outing vs. Brewers shouldn’t be surprising
• Francisco Alvarez, Mark Vientos hit back-to-back HRs for Syracuse Mets
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
