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MLB Crowds Growing, Reach 17-Year High in League-Wide Attendance
Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles fans react during the seventh inning between the Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

Baseball season is well underway, and fans are coming out in droves.

MLB announced Saturday that the league's average attendance across its 14 games on Friday reached 35,284. That was the highest for a Friday in April with no openers since April 25, 2008.

The crowd that came out to see the Philadelphia Phillies host the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park had a lot to do with the high mark, considering they were 44,949 strong. That was the highest reported attendance at the venue since Opening Day 2017, per The Athletic's Matt Gelb.

Big games at Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Globe Life Field, Camden Yards and Citi Field helped set the high water mark as well. Not even the Tampa Bay Rays facing the New York Yankees at a minor league venue dragged the average down too far, with their 10,046-member crowd marking a sellout in its own right.

Weather was surely a factor as well, with temperatures rising and winter firmly in the rear-view mirror. That wasn't the case in Denver, though, as Friday's series opener between the Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals was postponed due to snow.

This article first appeared on Fastball on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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