ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Cardinals reached a new record-low in attendance on Monday, falling below 20,000 single-game tickets sold for the first time in Busch Stadium III’s history, not counting pandemic-restricted games.

The Cardinals’ attendance for Monday’s series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates? 17,675.

It’s also the first time the Cardinals have seen single-game attendance (by the metric of tickets sold) dip below 20,000 for a game since Aug. 25, 1997.

The previous lowest total this season? April 2 against the Los Angeles Angels with an attendance mark of 20,309.

Even before this Cardinals-Pirates series, with both teams seemingly out of playoff contention barring a miracle, attendance was still trending downward. FOX 2 calculated that the Cardinals are on pace for their lowest season attendance mark since 1995, a pace of around 2.3 million. It’s a far cry from a 3 million season attendance the team has accomplished 21 times since the turn of the century.

Monday’s matchup is further evidence that declining attendance appears to go beyond the opponent or weather, the latter which proved quite optimal for baseball with mild temperatures in the 70s.

Right now, the Cardinals are in jeopardy of missing postseason for the third consecutive season, and have only won one postseason series over the last decade, below well below their historical standards. Thee last two seasons, notably, have featured lackluster, middle-of-the-pack baseball that hasn’t clearly signaled commitment to either contention or a rebuild, a gray area that appears has gradually drained fan enthusiasm.

Fan frustrations appear to be mounting, not only shown through attendance figures, but when certain opportunities have presented themselves, such as fans booing Cardinals leadership, like John Mozeliak and the DeWitts, on Opening Day.

Earlier this month, the the team’s vice president of ticket sales, Joe Strohm, acknowledged to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Fans have a right to voice their pleasure or displeasure, and we know there is work to get people back. We have to earn them back.” It appears the groundwork for that will begin in earnest after the 2025 season, when executive leadership shifts from Mozeliak to Chain Bloom.

The Cardinals ultimately won 7-6 on Monday on a walkoff home run from Alec Burleson, and the game also featured a heated ejection of Willson Contreras over a “Strike 3” call. The Cardinals improved to 65-67 in the 2025 regular season.