The Philadelphia Phillies sold out their intra-squad game Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park, moving 31,000 tickets at $10 each with all proceeds going to Phillies charities. Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reported the sellout for what’s essentially a glorified practice session during their break before the NLDS.
Here’s what makes this interesting: that’s more fans than showed up for either Wild Card game between the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers.
The Guardians drew 26,186 for Game 1 and 26,659 for Game 2, according to Daryl Ruiter of 923 The Fan. Both numbers fall several thousand short of what the Phillies managed for a charity exhibition.
The Phillies announced that tonight’s 6 p.m. intrasquad game at Citizens Bank Park is sold out. They sold 31,000 tickets to the seven-inning game at $10 a piece.
All proceeds will go to Phillies Charities.— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) October 1, 2025
The disparity isn’t exactly a knock on Cleveland’s fanbase. It’s more about logistics and economics.
Price matters. Ten bucks gets you in the door for the Phillies game, while postseason tickets cost significantly more even for the cheapest seats. When you’re talking about a casual midweek outing versus a legitimate playoff atmosphere, that difference becomes huge.
But timing might be the bigger factor here.
The Phillies started at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, a perfect after-work window for fans to drive over with free parking included. Meanwhile, both Guardians-Tigers games began at 1:08 p.m. Eastern — right in the middle of the workday.
That’s a problem. Fans need to burn vacation time or call in sick to catch actual playoff baseball between division rivals. The Phillies offered convenience: grab dinner, watch some baseball, support charity, all without missing work.
The way I see it, if Cleveland-Detroit played at 6:00 p.m. instead of early afternoon, they’d have blown past 31,000 easily. Nobody’s choosing an exhibition over real postseason drama when everything else is equal.
That scenario might get tested. The Guardians bounced back to win Game 2 and force a decisive Game 3 on Thursday. If other Wild Card series wrap up in sweeps, Cleveland could land a primetime slot for their elimination game.
A winner-take-all matchup under the lights against a division rival? That’s the kind of atmosphere that fills every seat in the house.
For now though, the Phillies can claim they outdrew actual playoff baseball with a practice game. It says less about the relative passion of fanbases and more about how much timing and accessibility matter when fans are deciding whether to show up.
