No. 17: Cleveland Guardians

What kind of baseball town is Cleveland?

Let’s offer two snapshots:

Snapshot 1: From June 12, 1995, until April 4, 2001, the Cleveland Indians sold out 455 consecutive regular-season games. For the six full seasons from 1996 through 2001, Cleveland drew more than 3 million fans every single year. That sellout streak, by the way, was a big-league record at the time.

Snapshot 2: Here is where Cleveland has ranked in attendance the last 10 years (counting seasons not affected by COVID):

2023: 23rd
2022: 25th
2019: 22nd
2018: 21st
2017: 22nd
2016: 27th
2015: 29th
2014: 30th
2013: 29th

In those sellout years, Cleveland averaged more than 3.3 million fans per season. Since 2013, they have been averaging almost exactly half that, at about 1.65 million per season. That’s a pretty dramatic contrast.

Usually with such things, you can simply point to the quality of the team declining, and it’s true that those 1990s teams were spectacular, going to the playoffs every year from 1995 through 1999 and going to two World Series; they had some of the most thrilling hitters in modern times, with Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez and Albert Belle and Kenny Lofton and so on.

But the team has hardly been a slouch since 2013. They have gone to the playoffs six times over that span, played in a thrilling World Series, and they’ve had some big stars, like Francisco Lindor and José Ramirez and Cy Young winners Corey Kluber and Shane Bieber. Even their manager, Terry Francona, was a star.

So what gives? Why did Cleveland baseball seemingly lose favor in my hometown?