re: MLB Thread 8/21 - 8/27

Much easier to go to weeknight games and get home at a reasonable time if you live locally.

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What would you attribute that to? Pitch clock and rule changes speeding up the games? More teams in contention? Something else?

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Three of top 5 teams in avg attendance increase are all having good years after some not so good years. Then the the Phillies who were in the world series last year and so had an excited fan base and Cleveland who dropped ticket prices this year are also in the top 5. Then the fact so many teams have been in contention until late in the season contributes as does the fact games at many ballparks start slightly earlier than previously and that combined with the pitch clock means they finish earlier. But weekend attendance is up too so not sure how much finishing earlier is a factor. The Dodgers having really had much of an increase but Dodgers fans are true baseball people and so don't care for all the bullshite changes and substitute batter crap.

Decreasing the time length of games. Maybe the rule change on shifts too. Offensive numbers are up across the board over last year. Offense sells to the wider audience.

Shohei Ohtani must have an effect to some degree. And then there are population changes to factor in. Asians and Hispanics have increased the most in population in the US in recent years.
I'd guess there has been more interest from Asian-Americans in MLB because of Ohtani. Then you also have Masataka Yoshida this year (in the running for AL ROY). I know there are some Asian people that attend all of Ohtani's games, home and away. And we know there's an affinity for baseball among Hispanics.

Attendance is still well below the peak year of 2007. (US population is estimated to have increased by well over 30 million since then.)