42 replies to this topic

[weird-O]

The Houston series mid September was big for both, we were trying to hold off the Rays and them their two division rivals. They averaged over 35k+ each game. I don't know how it really felt at the time.

 

August also had @Sea and @Tor where we did well in front of 40k+ fans several times. @NYY the 4th of July felt important at the time because we seemed to be unraveling. Anything earlier was probably too early to have a really important feel.

 

Anyway, we did well in all those series.

Houston is a bandwagon fanbase. I was at the 3rd game of that Sept series. There were plenty of empty seats. And the fans that did show up, couldn't be bothered to cheer. They were preoccupied with their cell phones and repeated trips to the concession stands. There were some guys near us that didn't know who their relievers were. I'm sure things will be different now that it's Oct. But if the Twins jump out in front early, Juicy Juice Park will be deathly quiet.

[Mike in STL]

Houston is a bandwagon fanbase. I was at the 3rd game of that Sept series. There were plenty of empty seats. And the fans that did show up, couldn't be bothered to cheer. They were preoccupied with their cell phones and repeated trips to the concession stands. There were some guys near us that didn't know who their relievers were. I'm sure things will be different now that it's Oct. But if the Twins jump out in front early, Juicy Juice Park will be deathly quiet.

I seemed to remember years ago when the Astros were really bad and the Orioles were on the come up, looking at attendance numbers. Houston was drawing 25k a game for a 100 loss team when the Orioles would do that maybe on a weekend, but were still doing like 15K during the week. Winning certainly brings the casual fan out. Free tickets from work, wearing their collared shirt and slacks to the game, yucking it up with clients, glued to their phones. See a lot more of that when the team is good. 

 

Washington is exactly that type of fanbase. More than just one guy in my section for a night game I went to, reading the newspaper during the game. Went specifically for a Strasburg start in his rookie season, and a couple people were like "oh cool." When they announced the starting pitchers during the lineups. Went to the game with no clue Strasburg was pitching, which was an event at the time. Lucky them?

 

The bar is also very high for the Astros now. If they played in the WC round they wouldn't be waiving towels and nonsense. That is beneath them. It's almost like their actual season starts Saturday. 

[weird-O]

I seemed to remember years ago when the Astros were really bad and the Orioles were on the come up, looking at attendance numbers. Houston was drawing 25k a game for a 100 loss team when the Orioles would do that maybe on a weekend, but were still doing like 15K during the week. Winning certainly brings the casual fan out. Free tickets from work, wearing their collared shirt and slacks to the game, yucking it up with clients, glued to their phones. See a lot more of that when the team is good. 

 

Washington is exactly that type of fanbase. More than just one guy in my section for a night game I went to, reading the newspaper during the game. Went specifically for a Strasburg start in his rookie season, and a couple people were like "oh cool." When they announced the starting pitchers during the lineups. Went to the game with no clue Strasburg was pitching, which was an event at the time. Lucky them?

 

The bar is also very high for the Astros now. If they played in the WC round they wouldn't be waiving towels and nonsense. That is beneath them. It's almost like their actual season starts Saturday. 

I remember back when the Braves were regular WS participants, it seemed like Atlanta fans wouldn't bother going out for the NLCS because that was just a practice series to get ready for the real thing