Major League Baseball set a single- season attendance record for the fourth straight year, with more than 79.5 million fans going to games.

The 30 teams had an attendance increase of 4.6 percent from 76 million in 2006.

Baseball cited competitive balance throughout the league as the reason for the continued strength in attendance, noting that all teams' winning percentages were between .400 and .600 for just the second time in history. No division winner from last season repeated, and only one of the eight playoff teams from 2006 returned to the postseason this year.

The New York Yankees again broke their own American League attendance record by drawing 4.3 million fans, the second- highest total in major-league history behind 4.5 million the Colorado Rockies drew in their inaugural season in 1993.

Combined with the Mets' record attendance of 3.9 million, the two New York teams combined to draw 8.1 million fans. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels drew 7.2 million, while the Chicago Cubs and White Sox had 5.9 million fans attend games.

Eight teams -- the Boston Red Sox, Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Mets, Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals -- set franchise attendance records, and 10 clubs drew more than three million fans.

The lowest attendance was 1.4 million for the Florida Marlins.

 

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