By Byung-hyuk Chun = Professional baseball has surpassed the seven million mark for the first time in four years.

The KBO announced on Thursday that 55,000 fans attended the four stadiums across the country where games were held, bringing the cumulative total to 7,045,672 after 641 games of the season.

It is the first time in four years since 2019 and the seventh time since the league’s inception in 1982 that the KBO has surpassed 7 million fans in a season.

It is also the first time since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that attendance has exceeded 7 million.

The average attendance per game through the previous day was 19,774, a 34% increase over the same number of games last season.

By team, the LG Twins led the way with a cumulative attendance of 1,023,000, followed by the SSG Landers with 903,319.

The Doosan Bears (785,014), Lotte Giants (766,927), and Samsung Lions (777,210) rounded out the top three.

The pennant race was disrupted by a record-breaking 90 games being canceled due to heat waves and frequent rain.

However, the second half of the season has seen a tightening of the standings among mid- to upper-tier teams, which has spurred fan interest.캡틴토토

The KBO surpassed 6 million fans on Aug. 31 and reached 7 million in 91 games, the fewest games ever played in a division.

With 83 games remaining in the season, the KBO is expected to surpass 8 million fans for the first time in five years after 2018 if competition for fall baseball tickets intensifies.