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 Charlie Sheen came up with “#Winning”, but Major League Baseball is the winner today after Saturday’s interleague numbers are in.
Attendance was up 3 percent from the same Sat last season with an average of 36,451 over 15 games this year compared to 35,496 over 14 last season.
The second day of the first series of interleague play saw 8 sellouts, with one of them being the lone intraleague series between the Brewers and Rockies.
The big winner yesterday was the Cleveland Indians. Winning and good weather came together and gave the club their first non-Opening Day sellout since May 24, 2008 when they played the Texas Rangers.
If you’re looking below and asking how being 2,914 shy of capacity constitutes a sellout, here’s what the Indians have to say. The sellout figure varies, but 41,721 was the club’s Opening Day sellout figure. That would make reaching sellout a more reasonable 1,090. According to the Indians, that threshold was broken with comps related to several factors including rainout exchanges, Club Seat benefit for season ticket holders, group leader tickets, fan appreciation coupons from last Sept, etc.
Related to sellout numbers, the Angels inform The Biz of Baseball that their sellout threshold number is 43,500.
And, no, we haven’t forgotten about the Pittsburgh Pirates. Riding high after now winning four straight, drew a sellout yesterday, which begs the question: Are the Pirates on the path to becoming relevant again after 18 consecutive losing seasons?
In terms of how interleague on Sat fared compared to last season on the Saturday of first interleague, all the “natural rivalry” games drew considerably better than last season:
| Rivalry |
% (+/-) |
Notes |
| Reds and Indians |
59% |
Both at Cleveland |
| Mets and Yankees |
17% |
At NYY this year |
| Orioles and Nationals |
58% |
At Camden this year |
| Giants and A's |
20% |
At SFO this year |
| Padres and Mariners |
21% |
At SD this year |
In terms of clubs that hosted games in the first series of interleague last season (albeit with different opponents in 2010 than 2011), all clubs, minus the White Sox, drew more on Saturday than the same Saturday last season:
| Club |
% (+/-) |
Notes |
| Phillies |
0.6% |
vs Red Sox in 2010 |
| Pirates |
43% |
vs Braves in 2010 |
| White Sox |
-10% |
vs Marlins in 2010 |
| D-Backs |
21% |
vs Blue Jays in 2010 |
| Royals |
54% |
vs Rockies in 2010 |
Here’s the complete breakdown of attendance for Saturday:
|
Road
|
Home
|
Sat
Attendance
|
Capacity
|
Sell-Thru
|
Notes
|
|
TX
|
PHI
|
45,604
|
43,647
|
104%
|
Sellout. Cliff Lee start vs former team
|
|
CHC
|
BOS
|
37,798
|
36,945
|
102%
|
Sellout
|
|
COL
|
MIL
|
42,240
|
41,900
|
101%
|
Sellout. Lone intraleague game between NL teams
|
|
OAK
|
SFG
|
42,152
|
41,915
|
101%
|
Sellout. Lincecum start. Cap Giveaway
|
|
DET
|
PIT
|
37,958
|
38,362
|
99%
|
Sellout. Neil Walker Bobblehead giveaway
|
|
ATL
|
LAA
|
43,511
|
45,281
|
96%
|
Sellout
|
|
NYM
|
NYY
|
48,286
|
50,287
|
96%
|
Sellout
|
|
CIN
|
CLE
|
40,631
|
43,545
|
93%
|
First non-Opening Day sellout since May 24, 2008 vs. Texas. Indians report lots of comps and season tix redeems
|
|
STL
|
KC
|
32,229
|
38,177
|
84%
|
|
|
MIN
|
AZ
|
39,776
|
48,652
|
82%
|
|
|
SEA
|
SD
|
34,648
|
42,500
|
82%
|
|
|
WSH
|
BAL
|
33,107
|
45,971
|
72%
|
|
|
LAD
|
CWS
|
25,519
|
40,615
|
63%
|
|
|
TB
|
FL
|
21,814
|
36,331
|
60%
|
|
|
HOU
|
TOR
|
21,494
|
49,539
|
43%
|
|
|
Total over 15 games
|
546,767
|
643,667
|
85%
|
|
Sell-Thru = Percentage of capacity
SPECIAL BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK REPORTS:
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 David Simmons is a graduate of the University of Central Florida who worked in the front office of the Los Angeles Dodgers over 4 seasons and has a decade of ticketing experience.. He serves as CFO for Players For The Planet and currently resides in Baltimore. You can follow David on Twitter @davidesimmons
 Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, as well as a contributor to FanGraphs and Forbes SportsMoney. He is available for hire or freelance. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.
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