Savannah Bananas and Cardinals legend make Busch Stadium attendance look even worse

The St. Louis Cardinals and their fans are going through a rough patch. There are few more loyal fandoms in American pro sports, but that loyalty comes with high expectations and even higher standards. And so, with St. Louis stuck in purgatory between immediate contention and a more forward-looking direction, but struggling to pick a lane, the fans aren't showing up. Not in their usual numbers.

Cardinals games at Busch Stadium have averaged 29,465 fans in attendance this season, per ESPN. That ranks 17th in MLB. Not terrible, but certainly not up to par with St. Louis' history as a team that packs the house and boasts one of the best home field advantages in baseball.

It doesn't help when the Savannah Bananas, a spoof team that dances and whatnot, rolls into town and shows you up in your own stadium. And you know the Cardinals are going to allow it because it's money in their pockets. Money that isn't coming as consistently from the home crowd when the Cards take the field.

The Bananas were in town on Friday and drew a max capacity crowd of roughly 44,000 fans to the home of the Redbirds, per the broadcast.

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Savannah Bananas run circles around Cardinals with full Busch Stadium crowd

The Bananas brought out a secret weapon on Friday night. Former Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright, who spent his entire 18-year career in a St. Louis uniform before retiring in 2023, took the mound to rapturous applause, with many in the crowd wearing Cardinals jerseys. It has not been that loud in Busch Stadium in a hot minute.

This whole sensation around the Bananas is just a case of exemplary marketing. The actual baseball product does not seem especially interesting — especially from the stands, watching dudes randomly dance mid-AB or whatever — but it plays great on TikTok and then you can manufacture moments like the Waino return. Savannah is consistently filling stadiums, too. We saw them sell out Fenway recently. It's an utter sensation.

What can the Cardinals do to get fans back in the stadium for their games?

This is not a simple answer. It's rather abstract, as times are changing. With each day, the world's population gets a little bit younger (sorry for the morbidity, but... it's a fact). Younger generations just are not as engaged with MLB as their parents. The league is working overtime to fix that and making serious inroads in the progress, but it's a fact.

So in addition to macro trends, there are the micro problems in St. Louis. This team is above .500 and still somehow not selling out games. Normally this town worships a winning baseball team, but the Cardinals feel almost burnt-out — like an aging, makeshift roster speeding headlong toward a dead end. I think fans realize this is not a World Series team and that serious change will not take place until Chaim Bloom takes over for John Mozeliak full stop next offseason.

Perhaps it's a waiting game. Perhaps Bloom can restock the farm system, shed a bit of dead weight and restore excitement around the future of St. Louis baseball. Until then, however, get prepared for the Savannah Bananas to keep producing better ticket sales.