While many people still like to moan and groan that baseball is dying, the numbers continue to tell the opposite story. And the latest data from MLB tell us that the start of the 2015 season further punctuates that.
In fact, the start of the new season was so popular it broke attendance records, according to these nuggets announced by the league Monday:
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• Combined attendance from the first two weekends of the season was 3,093,382, the highest figure in history. And this isn't one of those gets-better-every-year numbers. The previous record was 2,978,303, set in 2005. So it's a 10-year high in addition to being a record.
• Both weekends have drawn 1.5 million fans, the first time in history the first two weekends of the season have brought out that many people.
• Only once in MLB history has combined attendance reached 1.5 million on two April weekends. That was 2012 (and it wasn't the first two weekends of the season). There have never been three April weekends in which 1.5 million fans have turned out, so we'll see if attendance can reach that mark again next weekend.
While MLB is enjoying record revenues and its teams are worth more money than ever, some pundits still insist that fan interest is dwindling. While your average Tuesday night in Cleveland might not sell out, people are still obviously coming out to games in record fashion in other parts of the week.
Working on pace-of-play issues and starting games earlier on weeknights are two ways MLB and its teams are trying to improve the product. Those should especially help on weeknights, when fans can't schedule their whole day around taking in a ballgame.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
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