The Cleveland Guardians are hoping fans continue to rally around the team at Progressive Field as the American League Division Series begins Saturday. Cleveland awaits the winner of the best-of-three game Wild Card Series between the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros.
Attendance at Progressive Field was just shy of 2.1 million fans, one of the highest totals in 16 years, according to Ideastream Public Media's sports commentator Terry Pluto.
“It's an interesting development because for a while, even when the Guardians were contending, they had had trouble drawing over a million or a million-two in fans," Pluto said. "I had even heard some people say, ‘Well, you know, maybe Cleveland can't support three big time teams, the Browns, the Cavs and the Guardians.’ So, the surprising thing is how well, certainly the last two years the attendance has been growing."
Pluto believes winning wasn’t the only draw for fans.
"When you go by Progressive Field over the last, say, 10 years, where they started making significant changes," Pluto said. "It began with The Corner bar, I think in 2014 or something like that (and) taking out parts of the upper deck and creating railings and standing areas. They realize that younger fans look at the game a different way. It worked.”
The Guardians sold out 15 games this year, this most since 2001, according to Pluto. Progressive Field will see more fans in October with likely sell outs for the playoff games.
“Who knew this season was coming?" Pluto said. "Here they are with the second-best record in the American League. They'll be hosting the winner of the Detroit-Houston series and (the division series) is a best-of-five. The first two games will be in Cleveland, the next two would be on the road, and if there's a game five, it will be in Cleveland."
Pluto added that this year feels special, with "big time October baseball."
“(They’re) still the youngest team in the league, we say that almost every year about the Guardians," Pluto said. "One of the lower paid teams in the league, and also the Central Division, which for so long had been ridiculed, as all these Midwestern teams and none of them are never really any good, the Kansas City Royals are in the playoffs also. So basically, teams like Cleveland, or like Detroit this year, some of the others, are outsmarting basically the more wealthy opponents and that's fun.”
Pluto said he’d rather the Guardians face Detroit than Houston.
“The Tigers came out of nowhere," Pluto said. "I mean, they were way back in the pack around midseason, and they got hot in the second half of the year and got into the Wild Card. Sometimes when a team does that, they're just sort of happy to be there. It's almost like they won their pennant by just making the playoffs. Whereas the Astros, you know, they've won a World Series. They're always in the in the playoffs for the last several years."
Pluto said he hopes Cleveland sports fans unite around the Guardians this month.
“With all the angst and anxiety about the Browns, I mean, this is exactly what fans should grab on to in October," Pluto said. "However long this goes, I mean, this is bonus season if you're a sports fan in northeast Ohio. Don't let it go by without paying attention.”
