Atlanta and Houston drew larger crowds on the second day of the Wild Card Series, although both ballparks remained below capacity after visibly thin attendance at their Tuesday afternoon openers.
The Braves announced 30,127 spectators for Game 1 against Philadelphia at Truist Park, which holds 41,108. Houston’s opener against the White Sox drew 34,011 at Daikin Park, with a listed capacity of 41,168.
Those figures represented approximately 73 percent of Atlanta’s capacity and 83 percent of Houston’s. The difference amounted to almost 11,000 seats in Atlanta and more than 7,000 in Houston when measured against those listed capacities.
Wednesday’s attendance rose to 37,150 in Atlanta and 36,015 in Houston. Atlanta gained 7,023 spectators between the two games, while Houston’s crowd increased by 2,004. Both clubs nevertheless played their second postseason games with several thousand seats below full capacity.
The Associated Press reported that weekday work and school commitments, along with the short interval between the release of game times and the start of the series, complicated ticket sales for afternoon games. MLB declined to comment for that report.
The games carried immediate elimination stakes despite their early scheduling. Each Wild Card Series is a best-of-three round played at the higher seed’s ballpark. A club that loses its opener can therefore be eliminated the following day, without another home postseason date.
That happened in Houston, where Chicago’s 7–3 victory Wednesday completed a two-game sweep. The White Sox advanced to face Cleveland in the American League Division Series, while the Astros’ postseason ended after two games at Daikin Park.
Atlanta extended its series to a third game after Philadelphia won Wednesday’s contest 4–3 in 10 innings. The deciding game is scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern, moving the same matchup into an evening slot.
The attendance figures cover announced crowds for these four games. They do not establish how many ticket holders entered the ballparks, and empty sections visible during play should not be treated as a separate official attendance count.
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This page is an original Sporting Page summary. The reporting remains with Associated Press / KSAT.
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