The Mariners reached their attendance objective in 2025. They’ll attain for extra subsequent yr.
Just over 2.5 million followers attended common season video games at T-Mobile Park in 2025. That was the goal the crew set earlier than the season, Mariners’ Chief Operating Officer Trevor Gooby instructed the Ballpark Public Facilities District on Monday.
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“The team connected on so many levels with so many different people, from people who have never watched baseball to people who have not watched baseball for the last handful of years,” Gooby instructed board members. “Whether it was Josh Naylor or Cal Raleigh or Julio Rodríguez or the grace of Dan Wilson, it was just a really special team.
“It will be a good memory soon.”
The Mariners completed 14th in attendance in MLB. They drew about the identical variety of followers in 2024. They fell in need of the close to 2.7 million mark set in 2023 (tenth).
For some time, it didn’t appear to be they’d attain their objective. Fewer followers got here out in the spring and early summer time, and so they sat about 220,000 quick coming into the ultimate house stand. Then 120,000 followers got here out to see Mariners clinch the AL West towards the Rockies. Then one other 140,000 confirmed up for the ultimate sequence towards the Dodgers. With a mean attendance of 45,287, the ultimate sequence of the common season was the twenty fifth largest house crowd in the historical past of T-Mobile Park and the biggest since 2007.
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The Mariners gave followers a purpose to come back out. They completed the season 51-30 at house (in comparison with 39-42 on the street). They went 23-6 at house in the ultimate two months, which included two of the three best homestands by win percentage in franchise historical past.
“Thanks to the unbelievable play down the stretch, we did surpass that goal,” Gooby stated.
The Mariners, in fact, made the playoffs. They drew an extra 141,686 followers for the ALDS and 140,210 extra for the ALCS. These crowds stood and roared for a lot of (generally many, many) hours of playoff baseball and obtained robust critiques from native and nationwide media, house and away gamers, and even seismologists. Seattle made itself referred to as a baseball town, as our Isabelle Minasian wrote.
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With the postseason, a complete of two,819,949 followers attended video games in Seattle this yr — probably the most since 2004.
“On behalf of everyone in our organization, thank you for the passionate support, energy, rally shoes, mustaches, magic spells and joy you brought to the ballpark all season long,” John Stanton wrote in a letter to followers after the postseason ended. “We played for you, and you pushed our team to heights we have never reached before.”
Next yr…
The Mariners will seemingly see extra followers via the gates subsequent yr.
Ticket gross sales are inclined to lag behind crew success. I constructed a fast mannequin to estimate adjustments in attendance. Since 2000, every win in an ongoing season was price an extra 138 followers per recreation, whereas every win in the earlier season was price 176 followers per recreation. Teams coming off a visit to the League Championship Series noticed a mean improve of 1,659 further followers per recreation. For the Mariners, that might symbolize a 5% improve in attendance over 2025.
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This might understate their features. Teams with tepid attendance in the yr they made the LCS generally noticed a lot bigger leaps. The following plot reveals what a 5% increase would appear to be in comparison with different groups that completed as runners-up in their league.
That stated, the Mariners house schedule in 2026 makes anticipating bigger crowds tough. Opening Day will definitely be packed, however a four-game weekend sequence towards the Guardians is a tricky draw with March temperatures sometimes in the 40s in Seattle. The second sequence of the yr, nonetheless in March, takes place Monday via Wednesday as their solely house sequence with the Yankees. Other groups that are inclined to promote tickets in Seattle — the Braves, Phillies and Mets — additionally visit throughout the work week. The Mariners common about 10,000 fewer followers at the start of the week than on the weekend.
The Red Sox, one other large draw, visit Seattle on a weekend in June. This would usually appear to be a boon for ticket gross sales, however the groups are scheduled for a doubleheader on Saturday because of the World Cup on Friday at Lumen Field. Gooby stated the Mariners agreed to not play throughout the World Cup, however FIFA hadn’t launched its schedule when MLB finalized theirs. The doubleheader shall be break up admission, that means the Mariners will attempt to promote tickets for 2 video games on the identical day.
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There are nonetheless some potential large attracts. The house half of the Vedder Cup towards the Padres will happen on a weekend in May, and the Blue Jays and Giants every come to city for weekend sequence in July. The Mariners will finish the season with a six recreation house stand towards the AL West — a uncommon two-game sequence towards the Astros adopted by a four-game sequence towards the Angels. (The two-game sequence is preempted by one other weird function of the 2026 schedule: a four-game sequence towards the Astros in April that stretches from Friday via Monday.)
Gooby shared just a few different notes at Monday’s assembly. Installation on the team’s new scoreboard is scheduled to start in November. The Savannah Bananas won’t play at T-Mobile Park in 2026; they’re anticipated to visit each different or each third yr. It will seemingly be a sluggish yr for non-baseball occasions, because the World Cup is limiting excursions in the United States.
Model(ed) franchise
Just for enjoyable, let’s try and estimate ticket gross sales for the 2026 season. I took all the historical past of T-Mobile Park and constructed a separate mannequin for attendance utilizing month, day of week, opponent, and the Mariners’ current success. The mannequin works nice sufficient. There are higher variations elsewhere on the web. Other issues that matter that I didn’t seize: giveaways, holidays, climate, star gamers, ticket costs, Economics and baseball’s normal recognition nationwide.
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The blue line right here reveals precise ticket gross sales, whereas the purple line reveals anticipated ticket gross sales given the Mariners’ success and the logistical elements.
We can use this mannequin to inform a little bit of a narrative. The Mariners of the early aughts offered very properly as a result of the crew was nice. Attendance light because the drought set in, however there was one thing drawing extra followers than anticipated to video games — maybe the novelty of the stadium, or the prospect to see Ichiro, or just the notion that the Mariners had been sure to win once more. Whatever it was, that one thing light, too. As the org’s futility turned its face, individuals stopped displaying up, and so they didn’t return in power to look at the stars-and-scrubs squads of the mid-teens. When the crew tanked (or “retooled”) in 2019, followers didn’t linger however fled.
Then COVID occurred. It’s onerous to say what attendance would have been in 2020 or 2021. But when the stadium totally reopened in 2022, fewer followers than anticipated confirmed up, even with a playoff-caliber crew on the sphere. Still, that season did finally finish with a playoff look, and attendance leaped 17% in 2023. For the final three seasons, precise attendance has aligned with anticipated.
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Anyways, I ran the 2026 schedule via this mannequin; I assumed the crew would once more win 90 video games. I obtained… 2,732,680 followers. With a 5% increase for making the LCS, that’s a bit greater than 2.9 million. If we assume a ten% increase, extra alongside the strains of different rare LCSers, they’d breach 3 million for the primary time since 2003. Fans in Seattle love a winner.