Major League Baseball is experiencing an epidemic of (mostly) guys being dudes.
At Tropicana Field and other ballparks across the country, groups consisting of mostly young men are joining in on the “Tarps Off” trend that's loud, goofy, infectious and new to the baseball world. Joining in on the fun is simple: Go to the section where the party is happening, take off your shirt and start twirling it above your head.
Soccer-like chants or singing usually follows — injecting a jolt of energy for a sport that occasionally is chided for its lack of energy inside the stadium.
In St. Petersburg, where the Rays have built the best record in the Amerlcan League, "Tarps Off" made its debut in the late innings of last Monday's 16-6 rout of Baltimore.
YES RAYMOND https://t.co/OisrQauEgZ pic.twitter.com/rBVpsxZNDW
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 20, 2026
Tampa Bay has been on an amazing run, winning 21 of 25 games going into the weekend series against the New York Yankees.
“It's fun. Winning is fun,” second baseman Richie Palacios said. “When you have crazy fans like that, that's also fun as well, so we had a good time.”
"I know if I was a fan in the stands, I'd be right there in the middle of it," he added.
As last Monday's group grew, the shirt-swingers even called out players' names in a cheering roll call.
“I wanted to take my jersey off right there and just wave it at them, but I couldn't do that,” shortstop Taylor Walls said when he heard his name shouted out.
Ground zero for the shirtless outbreak was in St. Louis on May 15, when a club baseball team affiliated with Stephen F. Austin State University was in Alton, Illinois, for the National Club Baseball Division II World Series. The Cardinals offered tickets to the team at Busch Stadium, and 17 players made the 25-mile trip south.
That group started the fun, dozens of others joined and suddenly there were a couple of hundred fans creating a ruckus in right field that helped propel the Cardinals to a 5-4 victory in 11 innings over the Kansas City Royals. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol loved the energy so much that he bought tickets for the shirtless revelers for Saturday's game, and they returned.
“It’s hard not to have fun when the fans are like that,” Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn said. “We’ve got the best fans in the world, but it seems like the younger generation makes it more like a college atmosphere.”
Even Cardinals mascot Fredbird joined in on the fun.
Now it might be the start of a tradition — more shirtless fans cheered for the Cardinals in Tuesday's game against the Pirates. It certainly seems to be a boost for the club's home-field advantage: Ivan Herrera hit a three-run homer to lift the Cardinals to a 9-6 win in 10 innings.
Another small group celebrated in Philadelphia as the Reds and Phillies played in the rain. Angels fans celebrated with a mix of joy and irritation, chanting for owner Arte Moreno to sell the team.
Chad Bitzer, who has been coming to Seattle Mariners games for about 13 years, was among the shirtless fans at T-Mobile Park. His reasoning was simple: “Cause everyone else was taking it off. Why not?”
don't need a tarp when you've got a roof pic.twitter.com/zqP4iI0Mnd
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) May 20, 2026
“It’s fresh. It’s a beautiful night. Take it off," Bitzer said. "Great Northwest night. We live for the summers. We live for the good weather.”
MLB certainly won't complain about the attention. Attendance is up this season, averaging roughly 1,000 more fans per game than a year ago.
If the trend continues, baseball could average 30,000 fans per game for the first time since 2016.
More and more, they might just be shirtless.
