…[Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove] is a season-ticket holder now, too, so he understands why the crowds this weekend at Petco Park felt a bit more like the pre-2020 era of this rivalry than a team ranking second in average attendance this season and last season.
“I think it’s our season-ticket holders selling the tickets,” Musgrove said Sunday morning. “I’m not going to tell somebody that can make a lot of money or get some of their money back by selling tickets not to, but I think that’s the main reason. It seems like all of our fans that show up for every other series of the year and fill it out seem to sell their tickets when these series come around.”
Musgrove said Saturday night “was out of control. It was like the most I’ve ever seen Dodger fans in our stadium — 90% Dodgers fans.”
Petco Park averaged 42,434 fans per game last year and was sitting at 41,439 per game coming into Sunday. Both figures rank behind only Dodger Stadium (49,536 and 50,872 in 2025 and 2026, respectively) for most in the majors.
Crowds of 43,153 and 45,159 on Friday and Saturday easily trumped attendance for the Dodgers series here in mid-May, when neither crowd topped 42,000 and one (39,788) didn’t even register as a sellout.
[Emphasis added.]