The Yankees are in first place, sit sixth in attendance so far this season and yet, there's a headline in the New York Times that reads, "Winning Yankees Aren't Faring Nearly as Well at the Ticket Office." 

What gives? Is this much ado about nothing? Let's dig in. 

First off, generally speaking, there's not a boost in attendance with turn-around teams until the season after. We saw it with the 2010-11 Giants, 2012-13 Orioles (to a lesser extent), the 2014-15 Royals and several other teams. So after a somewhat disappointing -- on the whole -- season in the Bronx, one wouldn't expect the attendance to take a massive turn forward based upon six weeks of good play in 2017. 

Next up, as mentioned, the Yankees are sixth in MLB in average attendance per game. Only the Dodgers, Cardinals, Giants, Cubs and Blue Jays average more. Of course, it should be pointed out here that they are averaging 36,280 fans a game and Yankee Stadium's capacity is 54,251. Compare that to Wrigley Field seating 41,268 and averaging 38,619 a game. There's definitely a lot of room for Yankee Stadium to improve. 

Further, as the Times article points out, it's not just the number of fans. The luxury suites factor in here as well: 

[T]icket and suite revenues through last season had fallen by a staggering $166 million since the end of 2009, the year the Yankees christened the new ballpark with their last World Series title.

The financial figures, from the public filings the Yankees are required to make on their stadium bonds, represent a 42 percent loss in ticket and suite revenues over the last seven seasons. And despite the team's compelling play this season, attendance through the first quarter of their home schedule is down from the same point last year.

So it's only a quarter of the season with a young and exciting team sitting in first place, but things have gone south since that first season in the new Yankee Stadium. (The full Times story includes some excellent deep-dive reporting for those interested).

In all, the Yankees have plenty of money and the easiest way to start filling more seats is to start making deep playoff runs again. In the meantime, they could probably stand to continue marketing in the way of the Judge's Chambers and possibly start lowering ticket prices -- maybe even significantly in some areas of the park. 

In the meantime, the non-Yankees fans of the universe are surely basking in the schadenfreude.