Empty Seats In Baseball Playoffs

UNDATED (AP) -- Three of four playoff games failed to sell out Monday, leaving lots of empty seats at Tampa Bay, St. Louis and Washington. Sub-capacity crowds have become an expectation at Tropicana Field -- even in October -- but they were more striking elsewhere.

The Cardinals, whose fans tout themselves as the best in baseball, hosted the Braves in front of 42,203 supporters, about 2,000 fewer than Busch Stadium's listed capacity. Meanwhile, entire sections in the upper deck were nearly empty as Max Scherzer pitched for Washington against the Dodgers.

Prior to Monday, the only 2019 postseason games that failed to sell out were NLDS Games 1 and 2 at Dodger Stadium.

Attendance during the regular season fell 1.7% this year for its fourth straight decline.