Indians fever increasing - Friday game sold out, TV ratings soar as win streak hits 22
As the Cleveland Indians look to improve their American League-record win streak to 23 games on Friday night against the Kansas City Royals, they'll have a sellout crowd to root them on.
It's the third sellout crowd since the streak started on Aug. 24, although the other two came shortly after it began on Aug. 25 and Aug. 26 — Friday and Saturday games against the Royals, a team spokesperson told Paste BN Sports. But it's actually the first sold-out game since the magic of the Indians' historic run became a national story line.
Overall, it's the 10th sellout of the season, the most since the team had 11 in 2007.
Still, the attendance numbers at Progressive Field — which features a capacity just above 35,000 — haven't necessarily coincided with the team's impressive numbers on the field.
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Just 18,521 saw the Indians win their 19th consecutive game on Monday, followed by crowds of 24,654 for the AL record-tying 20th win Tuesday night and 29,346 for No. 21 on Wednesday afternoon. If anything, Ohioans appear to be taking in the streak at record rates on television, with Thursday night's game drawing the highest rating in SportsTime Ohio history (20.44 household rating, equivalent of 306,000 homes).
More sellouts could be in the cards, as there are limited tickets available for Saturday and Sunday's games against the Royals. The Indians enter Friday with a magic number of three to clinch the American League Central.
GALLERY: The Indians' win streak: From 1 to 22