TAMPA - Maybe it was the different uniforms, truncated name or the major reversal in their win-loss column, but attendance for the Tampa Bay Rays pushed past the 1 million mark faster than all but the team's inaugural season.
The Rays hit 1 million in home attendance Saturday, the team's 48th home game.
Only once has the team hit that mark earlier in the season and that was in 1998, when attendance reached 1 million in the 34th game.
Through 49 home games, 1,036,788 people passed through stadium turnstiles. Last year at the same point in the season, the team drew 758,753.
The increase of 37 percent is the largest in Major League Baseball this year, according to a team spokesman.
With an average of more than 21,000 fans per game, the team is on a pace to draw more than 1.7 million.
The team's record improves with large crowds. The Rays have won 13 and lost one when more than 30,000 people attend.
Teams play 81 home games in a season.
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