Sparse crowd, empty seats greet .500 Astros for wild-card opener vs White Sox

HOUSTON (AP) — The crowd at Daikin Park was surprisingly sparse as the Houston Astros — baseball's first division winner with a .500 or worse record — opened their Wild Card Series against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.

Large swaths of seats, especially in the upper deck, sat empty while right-hander AJ Blumbaugh delivered the game’s first pitch at 4:10 p.m.

The bottom two levels were much more filled than the upper deck, but many seats in the lower two decks were also empty.

The announced attendance was 34,011, in a park with a capacity of 40,963.

Major League Baseball has previously had trouble filling stadiums for some afternoon games in the wild-card round. When Cleveland hosted Detroit last year, the series opener started at 1:08 p.m. with 26,186 in attendance. All three games in that series were played in front of fewer than 30,000 fans. The Tampa Bay Rays drew just 19,704 for an ALWCS opener against Texas in 2023 that started at 3:08 p.m., the lowest attendance for a non-COVID MLB postseason game since the 1919 World Series.

Houston returned to the playoffs after missing out last year despite finishing 81-81. It's the first time a team made the postseason without a winning record in a non-shortened season.

All those empty seats are a rare sight in a ballpark that is normally packed for the postseason. And some of the fans that did show up weren't too happy with the performance of the home team with boos raining down on the Astros in the first and second innings as they fell behind 3-0.

The Astros averaged 30,519 fans per game during the regular season, which ranked 14th in the majors.

Houston fought through an injury-plagued season to reach the playoffs for the ninth time in 10 years. The Astros reached the American League Championship Series seven straight times from 2017-23 and advanced to the World Series four times, winning championships in 2017 and 2022.

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Houston Astros owner Jim Crane, left, talks with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, right, before Game 1 of baseball's American League Wild Card Series against the Chicago White Sox, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren

Houston Astros catcher Christian Vazquez walks across the field before Game 1 of baseball's American League Wild Card Series against the Chicago White Sox, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren

Fans sit among empty seats during the second inning in Game 1 of baseball's American League Wild Card Series between the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

Fans sit among empty seats during the second inning in Game 1 of baseball's American League Wild Card Series between the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

NEW YORK (AP) — Baltimore's 34-31 victory over Dallas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, averaged 29.9 million viewers on CBS on Sunday, making it the most-watched NFL international game in history.

According to Nielsen, the audience peaked to more than 30 million during the late stages when Baltimore's Tyler Loop made a 56-yard field goal on the last play. It also was the most-watched Week 3 game on CBS since 2014.

This year's Week 1 game in Australia between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams averaged 18.5 million in the U.S. on Netflix. Last year's Week 1 Friday night game in Brazil between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs also averaged 18.5 million on YouTube.

Sunday's CBS doubleheader averaged 21.45 million, its most-watched September doubleheader since 2014.

The other six international games last year were on NFL Network and averaged 6.2 million.

There are seven more international games this season, including Sunday's Indianapolis-Washington matchup in London. NFL Network will air five games, with the Nov. 15 New England-Detroit game in Munich, Germany, on Fox and the Mexico City contest between Minnesota and San Francisco on Nov. 22 airing on NBC.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Baltimore Ravens place kicker Tyler Loop (33) celebrates with punter Ryan Eckley (30) during the second half of an NFL football game in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Crews hold a Brazilian flag on the field before an NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)