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St. Louis Cardinals Fans Don't Show Up on Monday as Busch Stadium Has Smallest Crowd in History

The St. Louis Cardinals are out to a 3-1 start this year, but the fans didn't show up on Monday night for an extra-innings loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

Brady Farkas

St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher JoJo Romero (59) pitches against the Los Angeles Angels in the tenth inning at Busch Stadium on March 31.
St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher JoJo Romero (59) pitches against the Los Angeles Angels in the tenth inning at Busch Stadium on March 31. / Joe Puetz-Imagn Images
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The St. Louis Cardinals suffered their first loss of the season on Monday night, dropping a 5-4 contest against the Los Angeles Angels at Busch Stadium.

The 10-inning affair dropped the Cardinals to 3-1 on the year while the Angels improved to 3-1.

According to Cardinals' reporter Katie Woo of The Athletic, the team made some history on Monday night, and not in a good way:

The Cardinals are off to a good start this year, but that hasn't stopped fans from sending a message to ownership.

The announced attendance of 21,206 at Busch Stadium III tonight is the smallest crowd in stadium history. #STLCards

The Cardinals have seemingly treated this year as a "step-back" season in order to get their finances in order. They let Paul Goldschmidt go in free agency while also sending veterans Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson into the market. They spent all offseason looking to trade Nolan Arenado with the hopes of shedding salary and they entertained the idea of moving Sonny Gray.

The team finished tied for second in the National League Central a season ago.

The Cardinals and Angels will play again on Tuesday night with first pitch coming at 7:45 p.m. ET. Veteran right-hander and former Chicago Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks will take the mound for the Halos while former top prospect Matthew Liberatore will pitch for St. Louis. He's just 8-12 for his career. Now 25, he was 3-4 a year ago.

Hendricks is now 35 and is coming off a 4-12 season in Chicago.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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