The Oakland Athletics’ departure from the Bay Area has been attributed to low attendance. But was it really that simple? This analysis examines decades of attendance data and team performance to see how the A’s compared to the rest of Major League Baseball.

To understand Oakland’s attendance in context, we need to compare it to the rest of the league.

Even when accounting for league-wide trends, Oakland’s attendance consistently ranked among the worst in baseball. Despite competitive seasons, the A’s rarely climbed above the bottom tier.

The most telling finding: when plotting attendance against wins, Oakland consistently falls below the trend line. Even during 90+ win seasons, attendance lagged behind teams with similar records.

The numbers are clear: even during successful seasons, Oakland’s attendance ranked among the worst in baseball. When compared to teams with similar win totals, the A’s consistently underperformed. The attendance problem wasn’t just about losing — it was a deeper issue with the market’s support for the team.

All data sourced from Baseball-Reference.com via pybaseball