The trend began with a college baseball team in St. Louis and has since spread to ballparks from Seattle to Philadelphia.
WASHINGTON — Major League Baseball stadiums across the country are seeing a new fan trend take over the stands. Groups of mostly young male fans have gathered in sections of stadiums, removing their shirts and spinning them overhead while leading soccer-style chants and songs.
The “Tarps Off” craze, which began earlier this month at a St. Louis Cardinals game, has quickly spread to other MLB cities including Seattle, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Detroit and Anaheim.
Chad Bitzer, who has been coming to Mariners games for about 13 years, was among the shirtless fans in Seattle. His reasoning was simple: “Cause everyone else was taking it off. Why not?”
“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.”
The movement started May 9 at Busch Stadium when 17 members of a Stephen F. Austin State University club baseball team attended a Cardinals game while visiting nearby Alton, Illinois, for the National Club Baseball Division II World Series.
The shirtless cheering section grew throughout the night as the Cardinals rallied for a walk-off win over the Kansas City Royals. According to MLB, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol later bought tickets for the group to return the following night and invited them inside the Cardinals’ clubhouse.
“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.”
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.
A similar outbreak of shirtless fans broke out at a Tampa Bay Rays game Monday and again Tuesday. 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.
The trend has continued in St. Louis, where the Cardinals announced the upper right-field bleachers at Busch Stadium would become a “dedicated high-energy fan section,” according to MLB.
What is the Tarps Off trend?
The “Tarps Off” trend involves fans, usually in large groups, taking off their shirts during games and waving them overhead like rally towels while chanting and cheering loudly.
The phenomenon mirrors traditions often seen at college football games and soccer matches. According to MLB, the current version of the trend traces back to college football crowds in 2025, when fans at Oklahoma State games began going shirtless and twirling shirts during a difficult season. A fan at the university had accepted a $10 bet from his little sister to stand in an empty section of the stadium, take his shirt off and wave it around.
The idea has now made its way into professional baseball, where fans say it brings added energy and atmosphere to stadiums.
MLB attendance has increased this season, averaging about 1,000 more fans per game than the same point last year through Monday’s contests. If the pace continues, baseball could average 30,000 fans per game for the first time since 2016.
Some of them, increasingly, may not be wearing shirts.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.