Thread: NY Yankees USA most popular Baseball Team

The New York Yankees Remain the Country's Most Popular Baseball Team Three Years in a Row, According to New Harris Poll
Tuesday August 16, 2:43 pm ET
The Braves and the Cubs swap spots: Atlanta is now #2 and Chicago #3


ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- As we head into the last month of regular season play, the New York Yankees find themselves again on top as the country's favorite baseball team. The Atlanta Braves move up one spot to #2 on the list, while the Chicago Cubs slip down a spot to #3 according to the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 874 U.S. adults who follow Major League Baseball. The poll was conducted online by Harris Interactive® between July 12 and 18, 2005.
Following the Yankees, Braves and Cubs, rounding out the top five are the Boston Red Sox (#4) and the New York Mets (#5). With the World Series title now behind them and the curse broken, the Red Sox position has remained unchanged. The New York Mets, on the other hand, show a surprising jump up from #14 last year to the top five this year.


Biggest improvements since last year

Three teams have moved up nine or more places since 2004:
-- The Chicago White Sox move up 17 places from #27 to #10
-- The Cincinnati Reds move up 11 places from #19 to #8; and
-- The New York Mets move up nine places from #14 to #5.

Worst drops since last year

Three teams have dropped eight or more places since last year:
-- The Detroit Tigers have fallen 14 places from #5 to tied for #19
-- The Cleveland Indians have fallen 10 places from #9 to tied for #19;
and
-- The Houston Astros have fallen eight points from #9 to #17.

This latest survey also looked at baseball expansion. This year's "new" team, the Washington Nationals, is ranked #22, a large improvement over the ranking of the old Montreal Expos (#30 in 2004). Also, when asked which city should receive a baseball team if Major League Baseball were to expand the league, one-third (33%) of those who follow baseball say it should expand to Las Vegas, Nev. while 21 percent say it should expand to Charlotte, N.C., Portland, Ore. was the pick for 14 percent, seven percent said the team should go to Orlando, Fla., four percent chose Hartford, Conn. and four percent think Sacramento, Calif. should receive the expansion team. Less than one in five (17%) said they would choose none of these cities.

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                     TABLE 1
               FAVORITE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM: 1999 - 2005
             "What is your favorite Major League Baseball team?"

    Base:  Follow Major League Baseball

                               Rank         Rank         Rank         Rank
                               1999         2003         2004         2005
    New York Yankees             2            1            1            1
    Atlanta Braves               1            2            3            2
    Chicago Cubs                 3            7            2            3
    Boston Red Sox               8            6            4            4
    New York Mets               12            3           14            5
    St. Louis Cardinals          4           14           13            6
    Los Angeles Dodgers          7            8           =9            7
    Cincinnati Reds             13           10          =19           =8
    Pittsburgh Pirates          18          =18           =9           =8
    Chicago White Sox           20           27           27          =10
    San Francisco Giants        26            9            7          =10
    Baltimore Orioles            9          =18            8           12
    Minnesota Twins             11            5          =17          =13
    Philadelphia Phillies       16           12            6          =13
    Seattle Mariners             6           11          =15          =13
    Arizona Diamondbacks        NA          =16          =17           16
    Los Angeles Angels of
     Anaheim*                   23          =16          =25          =17
    Houston Astros              22          =20           =9          =17
    Cleveland Indians            5            4           =9          =19
    Detroit Tigers              10           15            5          =19
    Texas Rangers               15           13          =15           21
    Kansas City Royals          24          =25          =19          =22
    Washington Nationals        NA           NA           NA          =22
    Milwaukee Brewers           21           23           23           24
    San Diego Padres            17           22          =25           25
    Colorado Rockies            14           24           24           26
    Oakland Athletics           19          =20           22           27
    Florida Marlins             25          =25           21           28
    Tampa Bay Devil Rays        NA           28           28          =29
    Toronto Blue Jays**         28           29           29          =29
    Montreal Expos              27           30           30           NA

Source

i am really surprised the braves are number two. they can't even sell out playoff games.

cubs and yankees are no surprise. redsox went up because all of the bandwagon going on.

I would bet the yankees are also the most hated team also.

Originally Posted by wayneo42348

I would bet the yankees are also the most hated team also.

Just like Howard Cosell was when he was alive.

#1 ha ?????????


Haven't won a championship since 2000. And they have been eliminated from the playoffs by 4 Wild card Teams in a row.. LOL

Let's do a recap shall we.

2001 Lost to the wildcard winner Arizona D-backs in the World Series.

2002 Lost to the wildcard winner Aneheim Angels in the Division Series

2003 Lost to the wildcard winner Florida Marlins in the World Series.

2004 Lost to the wildcard winner Boston Redsox in the ALCS after leading 3-0

After losing to 4 Straight WILD CARD Winners, the question is will they even make it as a wildcard team in 2005??????

Stay tuned...

Nobody said the Yankee were the BEST team, just the most popular !

I like to see how well a team travels and up to this point in 2005, the Yanks, Red Sox and Cubs are 1-3 as far as MLB Attendance numbers goes for road games this year. I used the percentage of capacity statistic as I don't think averages are as telling a number since both the Cubs and RedSox play in smaller parks. Of course that boosts their home percentages, but like I said, I like to see how they travel on the road. That is where you find the true popularity of a team.

Take this for example. The Cubs play Friday in Colorado. Its sold out where normally the Rockies average about 47% of capacity in their first 63 home games. We are talking a 50,000 seat stadium. That shows popularity. Same goes for both the Red Sox and Yankees. When they play in Tampa, you can't even hear the Devil Rays fans.

Here's the link:


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

That's a very good point Chado...

Regarding their losing streak since 2000. Only thing to say is that there a lot of teams who wish that they could make it to the playoffs every year since 1995. Once you make it to the playoffs, there is no guaranteed that the best team with the best record will win. In the playoffs there are a few factors that make teams win:

1 - If they are hot, they will win. This was proven by the Angels in 2001. They did not have the best pitching staff nor had the best team all around, yet they were able to win all because, they got hot at the right moment.

2 - Pitching and defense. This almost guarantees a World Championship. Whomever plays the best defense and shows the best pitching arms (starter and bullpen) may win it all.

3 - Small ball. Very few teams employ this in the regular season but in the playoffs it is essential to manufacture runs. It is a given that you will not score more than 5 runs per game in a series so it is imperative for teams to take any opportunity to play small ball.

4 - First Round playoffs. The first round is always the most dangerous round because it is a 3 out of 5 series and whomever falls as sleep may go home very quickly. This means that even the best team could be eliminated in the first round. It only takes 3 wins which you could get very quickly and very easily.

See that in my explanation above I never put OFFENSE as a factor that will make you win in the playoffs. Since 1995 there has not been a single team who has won because they were able to push their ways through to the WS. This reminds of the Oakland As who were known for their offense and were never able to bunt in the playoffs.


In a nutshell, the regular season is fun and it is nice to watch the divisional races and the wild Card races but the real baseball season starts in the playoffs. The point of the season is to make it to the playoffs and win the championship but once a team makes it to the playoffs, there is no guaranteed that they will win it all. The Yankees are very fortunate to be in a league of their own that they make it to the playoffs every years since 1995. Every year they are given the chance to win the BIG ONE. As a fan of any team, this is the only thing you would hope for. This year they may not make it to the playoffs because they lack pitching and defense. This is something that they were at best from 1996-2000. They have changed and now they are an offensive team but as the saying says "good pitching can stop Excellent hitting any day".

I see my Reds are 7th in road attendance.