MLB's Most Bandwagon Fans

With the MLB postseason now concluded and the Milwaukee Brewers crowned the World Series champions, fans are reflecting on the season. Some will be hopeful that their team keep the successful streak going, while others will be wishing that next season will be a fresh start – but which fanbases are quick to jump ship when things don’t go their way?

A recent study by Casino Guru USA examined the average attendance for every team from 2000 to 2026, before comparing to ballpark capacity and factoring in losing seasons – each fanbase was scored and ranked, determining which ones are the most bandwagon of all.

Key findings

• Philadelphia Phillies fans rank #1 most bandwagon in the MLB with a score of 84/100 – fans fill 85% of seats on average in winning seasons, which is 30 percentage points higher than the 55% filled in losing seasons
• Fans of the Milwaukee Brewers rank second with a score of 81/100, with attendance increasing by an average of 13% when the team transitions from a losing to a winning season
• Boston Red Sox fans rank as the #1 least bandwagon of all and earn the lowest score of 42/100 – the proportion of seats filled in winning seasons (97%) is just 1% higher than in losing seasons
• Fans of the Washington Nationals recorded the largest dip in attendance in a losing season immediately following a winning season, at 26%

The top five most bandwagon fanbases

Philadelphia Phillies fans top the list as the most bandwagon of all, scoring 84/100. According to the study, Phillies supporters can’t seem to take the heat when things go south; with an average attendance in losing seasons of 25,459, that’s 32% lower than the attendance in winning seasons, which sits at 37,510.

Fans of the 2026 World Series winners, the Milwaukee Brewers, rank second with a score of 81/100. In the team’s winning seasons, fans filled an average of 81% of seats at American Family Field – but the crowd thins out when the Brewers are having a rough time. In losing seasons, fans filled 67% of seats, and compared to the proportion in the winning seasons, that’s a decrease of 14 percentage points.

In third are San Diego Padres fans, scoring 80/100. With 2024 being one of the team’s best seasons, in which they recorded 93 wins and 69 losses, the Padres held an average attendance of 41,118. But when the going gets tough, fans might not stick around; in one of the Padres’ most recent losing seasons in 2019, when they recorded just 70 wins and 92 losses, attendance was 28% lower at 29,585.

Taking the fourth spot is Chicago Cubs fans with a score of 76/100. With a capacity of almost 42,000 at Wrigley Field, the average attendance during the Cubs’ winning seasons sits at 37,774 – equivalent to 92% of seats filled. Although this changes quite drastically when the results take a turn for the worse – their most recent losing season in 2022 saw a drop in the proportion of seats filled at 78%, a difference of 14 percentage points.

Athletics fans rank fifth, scoring 66/100. Over at Sutter Health Park, attendance for the Athletics averages 23,812 when the team are batting more wins than losses – but in the average losing season, this plummets by 29% to 16,984, the second-largest decrease of all teams.

The top five least bandwagon fanbases

According to the study, some fanbases are happy to stick with the team come rain or shine – Boston Red Sox fans are the #1 least bandwagon fanbase, scoring 42/100. Across the Red Sox’s winning seasons, the ballpark attendance averaged 35,416, filling 97% of seats – only 1% higher than the losing seasons’ attendance and the smallest difference across the MLB.

In second place is Toronto Blue Jays fans with a score of 43/100. For the most part, fans show their support through the highs and lows – when the Blue Jays recorded a losing season immediately after a winning season, average attendance only dropped by 3%, which is among the top 10 smallest decreases in the league.

Ranking third are fans of the Miami Marlins, scoring 44/100. While the proportion of seats filled by fans in winning seasons sits on the lower end of the scale at 45%, the team doesn’t lose many supporters during losing seasons when the results dip, with the third lowest drop of just 3 percentage points to 42% of seats filled.

Another Florida-based fanbase takes fourth place: the 2026 World Series runners-up, the Tampa Bay Rays, with a score of 46/100. Before this year, the Rays’ most recent winning season in 2023 saw an average of 17,781 fans supporting the team at Tropicana Field to fill 71% of seats - and when the results took a turn the following year, the proportion of seats filled sat at 66%, a drop of only 5 percentage points.

Following closely behind are fans of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fifth spot, scoring 48/100. While a winning season for the Diamondbacks sees only 62% of seats filled by fans, which is 11 percentage points lower than the league average, the average attendance straight after a losing season only jumps up by 7%, showing fans aren’t easily swayed by success.

Methodology

In October 2026, Casino Guru USA examined data from Baseball-Reference for every MLB team since 2000, excluding 2020 and 2021 due to COVID disruption, on the following:

• Average home game attendance for every MLB team
• Ballpark capacity for every team and season to calculate the percentage of seats filled
• Winning seasons (more wins than losses) and losing seasons (more losses than wins)
• Average ballpark capacity filled during winning seasons compared to losing seasons for each team to establish the difference
• Average attendance declines when a team transitioned from a winning season to a losing season in the following year
• Average attendance increases when a team transitioned from a losing season to a winning season in the following year

Teams were then scored out of 100 based on the data for each metric, which was then used to determine the ranking.

Note: The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers were excluded from the final ranking due to the lack of losing seasons over the study period.

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