The Marlins can say they had something to do with the Pirates dropping below them for the lowest average paid attendance in the majors. Because just 10,185 fans bothered to watch the Marlins and Pirates on Tuesday at PNC Park, the Pirates' average attendance for their eight home games fell to 14,766. The Marlins are second-lowest with an average of 15,033.
There is no way I'm going to bash Marlins fans for not attending games, it just ain't gonna happen. The fact remains that the Marlins will have low attendance figures until a stadium is built in one of the population centers. And in this case, Miami.
Super Saturday draws reasonably well, Friday's and Sunday's are okay. But until the Marlins play in a stadium that is close to where most of the population lives, the weekday night games will be sparsely attended. It is a fact of geography. Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale can't support a major league team all by themselves.
I really don't know all about why the Pirates are having trouble drawing fans. They're a fun team to watch but I've heard the locals have serious problems with the team's front office management and tried to staged a walkout last season. Frankly, I would've been throwing a fit when they signed Matt Morris last season, if I were a Pirates fan.
In South Florida, however, while the owner of the team and the Vice President aren't beloved, it is acknowledged that the baseball people generally know what they are doing -- most of the time. Therefore stupid baseball moves are kept to minimum (last year's veteran closer at all cost aside). And the front office have shown some inclinations of spending in order to win in the past. (2004 and 2005 would be the examples). And yes, I do know that they aren't going to spend anything until the new park is in place which will be too late to retain some of the players we have now.
But the Marlins tend to put a good product on the field so when/if the new ball park is completed and with it being accessible to a larger number of fans, attendance should increase. In case the Marlins front office is reading this, Ha!, one of the keys to having a higher attendance will be to not over price the tickets. Oh, and don't make orange a primary color should there be a change in the uniforms. Personally, I like the uniforms the team have now, but that is just me.