Tag: MLB

Analysis, Baseball, watch party

David Bote’s Walk-Off Grand Slam Cinderella Story

Posted on by Zachary Burd

Five months ago, not even the biggest baseball fan had heard of David Bote.

He was 25 years old and posting mediocre stats across the board as an infielder on the Cubs’ minor league affiliate teams. And despite being picked in the 18th round of the 2012 MLB draft, Bote seemed destined to end up as a minor league career journeyman, condemned to a lifetime of obscurity and the pain of watching many of his teammates make it to the spotlight of the major leagues.

Yet fast-forward to the evening of August 12th, when Bote was in the process of making MLB history with one mighty swing of the bat. What happened between March and August to catapult David Bote from anonymity to stardom?

Visit FanWide.com to find a Chicago Cubs game watch party or fan club near you.

Analysis, Baseball, Fan Data, Sports Data, Sports Fan Data

A Deeper Look into Fan Attendance by MLB Team

Posted on by Philip Garland, Ph.D.

In our last post, we explored the attendance patterns across major league baseball. In this post, we take a closer look at the attendance performance of individual teams. As the data in the table show, the Los Angeles Dodgers have the highest average attendance in baseball the past three years  (46,230) followed by the St. Louis Cardinals (42,854) and the San Francisco Giants (41,303). The Tampa Bay Rays have the lowest average attendance the last three years at 15,650.

The ticket sales departments of the high average teams are undoubtedly pleased, but even better than a high average is a consistently high average, or put differently, low variance in attendance. The Giants have the lowest attendance variance of any team in baseball the last three years, though the Cardinals and Dodgers are also in the top five. After all, it’s hard to maintain a high average without regularly selling a lot of tickets. But having a high average and low variance suggests that home team fans are supportive of their team no matter who is playing—arguably a higher degree of interest.

Analysis, Baseball, Fan Data, Sports Data, Sports Fan Data

MLB Stadium Attendance: Is America’s Pastime Experiencing a Decline in Popularity?

Posted on by Philip Garland, Ph.D.

Stadium attendance is, of course, the oldest form of fan interest and occurs whether a game is televised or not. So, as we contend in our previous post, in-stadium attendance is ultimately the highest fidelity signal available for measurement. Each stadium has a fixed capacity and standing room only ticket sales are rarely sold with the exception of the Dallas Cowboys after the construction of their home venue in 2009. Even with standing room tickets, Cowboys stadium capacity is capped at 105,000. Because one body fits in one seat on almost all cases, attendance is thus a reliable benchmark to compare television viewership. (We acknowledge that not everyone who bought a tickets makes it to the game and many teams count promotional tickets—many of which go unused—in their reported attendance numbers, but we assume that most teams that do not sell out every game do this to roughly similar degrees which makes for a bit a noise in the data, but otherwise doesn’t completely destroy our model.)

Analysis, Baseball, Basketball, Events, Sports Data, Uncategorized, watch party

Does Nationwide Interest In A Team Move With Its Best Players?

Posted on by Lucien Kisch

Two weeks ago, the New York Mets traded Matt Harvey to the Cincinnati Reds for Devin Mesoraco and cash. While Harvey’s star has dimmed as he’s struggled with injuries the past few seasons, there was a time where he was one o the best pitchers in baseball, the Dark Knight who started at the all-star game. As a Mets fan myself, Harvey became one of my favorite players on a series of underperforming Mets teams, and made each game he pitched a must-watch experience. While this trade made sense from a baseball standpoint, it was a disappointing  experience for me because of my affection with Harvey as a player, and although my Mets fandom will not sway, I will definitely be following the Reds more closely, especially on days where Harvey pitches. This made me wonder, how much does the movement of star players influence fans’ interest in the teams they root for?

All, Baseball, Events, News, watch party

The Houston Astros Rocky Road to the World Series

Posted on by Emily Vernik

The Houston Astros managed to fight their way into the World Series after beating the Yankees 4-3 in the ALCS. And what a time for the Astros to persevere, as Texas needed a reason to celebrate.

It’s been a rough couple of months for Houston after the devastation from Hurricane Harvey left thousands without homes and billions of dollars of damages in its wake. The rainfall from Harvey in Texas and Louisiana alone could have filled the Astrodome 85,000 times over.

Visit FanWide.com to find a Houston Astros game watch party or fan club near you.