MLB analyst celebrates league's record attendance numbers with sarcastic dig at negative reports

The 2023 MLB season is off to a great start, with record attendance numbers being recorded in the first few months.

MLB Communications announced on Monday that the league has recorded the highest attendance numbers in six years last week. According to reports, the May 19 to 21 weekend saw over 1.5 millions combined fans for all 30 teams, a record high since 2017. One analyst has applauded the numbers after recent suggestions that the sport was falling out of popularity.

Many journalists and analysts are pointing to one new change that's most likely the cause of the rise in attendance numbers: the new pitch clock. The implementation of the new pitch clock rules has shortened the game time to an average of just over two and a half hours compared to the average of over three hours last season.

According to the new pitch clock rules, the time between pitches had been limited to 15 seconds when the bases are empty and 20 with a player on base. That was done after much experimentation in the minor leagues, with the aim of reducing game time and keeping it fast-paced and interesting for fans. No matter the reason, it's definitely an encouraging statistics for everyone in the world of baseball.

League analyst Jared Carrabis tweeted, albeit sarcastically:

"Baseball is dead."

---

MLB games sees TV viewership rise along with attendance

While the latest numbers indicate a 5% rise in game attendance in the first month of the MLB season, TV viewership has risen even more, by an incredible 63%.

Some have even pointed to COVID-19 restrictions being lifted for the first full season as one of the reasons for the increased numbers. With things looking good for the league, it looks promising for this year's World Series to break records as well.

However, the full picture will only be apparent at the end of the season after all the numbers are calculated.