Predictably, people aren’t going to baseball games very much this season. So much for that World Baseball Classic bounce, at least domestically. Surprisingly, the Dodgers lead the league in attendance drop. Much of it, I bet has come in the last week or so. Not everyone’s forgiven Manny.

The Sports Economist has solid analysis of the decline’s meaning. Beyond the empty seats at Dodger Stadium, more financial loss seems in the offing:

Nine teams have realized attendance increases with the Tampa Bay Rays leading the way. That’s not at all surprising given their success on the field last year. Studies routinely show that when teams perform well one year, their attendance tends to be higher the following year because the good performance changes fan expectations, ceteris paribus.

The recession is surely hurting teams. Both the Mets and the Yankees have moved into new palaces, which should ceteris paribus translate into attendance increases, but both rank in the top 4 in per-game attendance decreases with the Mets seeing the sharpest decline so far.

These drops say even more when you consider that both New York teams moved into larger stadiums. Tough year so far for the big leagues.