Petco Park breaks attendance record on Friday with the Diamondbacks in town

No, baseball is not dead. In fact, it is thriving, as evident from the record-breaking attendance at Petco Park on Friday when the Arizona Diamondbacks were in town to take on the San Diego Padres.

A new record of 47,171 fans piled into the stadium, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary with the Padres this season. While the Diamondbacks are not known for their traveling fanbase and are no Dodgers, something in the air in downtown San Diego must have led fans to believe they were in for a special night as the Padres took on the defending 223 National League Champions.

And they were right.

Entering the top of the 9th facing a 7-2 deficit, the Diamondbacks stormed back to take the lead. The rally started with an Alek Thomas grand slam, followed by a pinch-hit two-run home run off the bat of Randal Grichuk.

But, in the bottom half of the 9th, Manny Machado called game with a walk-off two-run blast for the Padres, giving all 47,171 fans a memory they will never forget.

Overall this season, Major League Baseball has seen quite the surge in attendance as they get back to pre-COVID turnout. Over Father’s Day weekend, MLB experienced the highest number of fans crowding into ballparks across the country since 2008. Across 45 games, over 1.5 million fans attended, averaging 37,527 fans per game. Both Sunday’s and Saturday’s games broke attendance records dating back to 2008.