Data shows Padres fans still supporting team in droves after rollercoaster offseason

Logically, it would make sense if San Diego Padres fans were far less enthusiastic about attending games in 2024, especially before the Dylan Cease trade news broke. Multiple star players left town, payroll decreased, and the overall expectations for the Padres this coming season were down across the board. Typically, that means less fan interest.

In some respects, that has been the case. The Athletic did a Padres fan survey and it showed decreased fan confidence across the board, with ownership and general manager AJ Preller getting mediocre to poor marks as well. Baseball fans have notoriously short memories, and the overwhelming sentiment (especially before they landed Cease) was negative year over year.

However, those worries may have even been overstated, even before the Padres' latest trade splash, as the team announced earlier this week that the Padres set a new season ticket membership record heading into 2024 and have sold those memberships out.

Padres fans continue to support the team through thick and thin

These sorts of numbers should always be taken with a grain of salt. We don't exactly know how many season tickets were made available versus previous years, nor do we know enough about single game sales year over year or if there were any deals cut to sell season tickets cheaper to bulk buyers, etc. That said, that the Padres were able to continue to keep the diehard fans (and scalpers) engaged and buying season tickets is a positive sign.

Realistically, fans should expect ticket demand to increase at least in the short-term. Cease is certainly going to attract some eyeballs by himself, but the Padres are also still a good team. They still have star power with Manny Machado, Yu Darvish, and Fernando Tatis Jr. to draw fans, and should also have young standouts like Jackson Merrill for everyone to get excited about.

Should fans be making playoff plans this early? Absolutely not, as a whole lot has to go right for that to be a possibility. However, the Padres should still be a fun team to watch and it sounds like fans, for the moment, agree.

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