Often times, we hear the terms “big market” and “small market” to describe certain MLB teams.
The big-market teams are the ones that typically spend the most money, while the small-market teams prefer to build from within to sustain success.
Some teams are luckier than others, but small-market teams often do not spend much money to improve their teams, which ultimately leads to poor performance and poorly attended games.
The Oakland Athletics, who will soon be headed to Las Vegas, are a perfect example of this.
On Monday, they hosted the 23-18 Arizona Diamondbacks and drew just 2,064 fans.
On the contrary, the San Diego Padres spent big during the offseason and drew a total of 43,828 fans on Monday with the slumping Kansas City Royals in town.
Oakland Coliseum tonight vs the 23-18 Diamondbacks: 2,064 fans, lowest single-game attendance since 1979
Petco Park tonight vs the 12-30 Royals: 43,828 fans, 13th sellout of the season
If you spend it, they will come. pic.twitter.com/lvusTT8mWb
— MLB Metrics (@MLBMetrics) May 16, 2023
This ultimately proves what most around the game of baseball already knew to be true, that the teams that spend the most money are the ones who are ultimately rewarded.
The teams that spend are more often than not very competitive year in and year out and are in a position to constantly contend for the postseason.
They also tend to draw a lot of fans and sell out games at their ballparks.
But owners of small-market teams often try to create an illusion that they don’t have the money to build a contender, despite being very wealthy and fully capable of doing so.
However, spending the money would solve many of their problems, as the Padres proved with their attendance numbers from Monday night’s game against the Royals.
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