I'm ranking all 30 of the MLB teams in order of how much I like them at this moment in time. As with most countdowns, I'm starting with the worst (Cardinals) and I'll eventually end up with the best (Reds). The real question now is, where will the other MLB teams land in my countdown?
We've knocked off a bunch of hated teams already in my list. The Cardinals landed in the most-despised spot followed closely by the Yankees and then the Giants. While some of the commenters made great guesses of the Cubs, Dodgers, and Red Sox for the next spot on the list it turned out they were all wrong.
My #27 least favorite team in MLB right now is the Washington Nationals.
First things first, I admit that this probably seems like kind of an odd choice here from a Reds fan. The Reds and Nationals don't have any real sense of a rivalry (other than maybe who had to get stuck with Jim Bowden back in the day). No, my reason for disliking Washington is for a couple of other (admittedly perhaps petty) reasons.
Reason #1: The hype machine (and attitudes) that followed Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg as they entered the big leagues.
Generally speaking, I'm not huge on hype in the first place. As a baseball card set collector, all hype does is make things more expensive for me to acquire. I don't like that. I also don't like when Topps decides to go "all-in" on a certain team or player and produce tons of cards of the player. Topps was guilty of that with both of the Nationals' much ballyhooed rookies.
Reason #2: I miss the Expos and I hold the Nationals franchise responsible for the Expos' demise. This reason alone is enough to rank the Nationals quite low on most people's lists I would think.
Reason #3: On a more personal note, Washington's stadium is one of the closer stadiums for me to visit (it's about 5 hours or so from my house). Unfortunately, I basically never want to go there anymore because of how expensive it is to park at the stadium. One of the last times I went, we had to pay $40 for game day parking (and the Reds lost)...pretty sure we had two tickets for less money than that.
As always, I do try to find the good in each team on my countdown as well. For the Nationals, while parking is absurdly expensive (or at least it used to be), I did happen to like their stadium quite a bit once I was in it. The second time I went to a game there, I even ended up on the jumbotron which was fun. During that game, I was decked out in my Reds gear and I was with two friends who were in their Yankees gear. If I recall correctly, the game we saw was a meaningless game between the Nationals and the Diamondbacks. There weren't many people in the stands that day - but when the jumbotron's cameras turned on to the three of use, we all cheered and pointed to our respective team's logos. When my two Yankee friends did that, the few fans in the stands actually booed which cracked me up (I also booed them because that's the kind of friend I can be). It was all in good fun!
My list of favorite MLB teams (from worst to first):
#30: St. Louis Cardinals (post)
#29: New York Yankees (post)
#28: San Francisco Giants (post)
#27: Washington Nationals
to be continued...
We've knocked off a bunch of hated teams already in my list. The Cardinals landed in the most-despised spot followed closely by the Yankees and then the Giants. While some of the commenters made great guesses of the Cubs, Dodgers, and Red Sox for the next spot on the list it turned out they were all wrong.
My #27 least favorite team in MLB right now is the Washington Nationals.
First things first, I admit that this probably seems like kind of an odd choice here from a Reds fan. The Reds and Nationals don't have any real sense of a rivalry (other than maybe who had to get stuck with Jim Bowden back in the day). No, my reason for disliking Washington is for a couple of other (admittedly perhaps petty) reasons.
Reason #1: The hype machine (and attitudes) that followed Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg as they entered the big leagues.
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| Image source: https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2017/10/7/16442672/bryce-harper-nlds-game-two-home-run-zimmerman-chicago-cubs |
Generally speaking, I'm not huge on hype in the first place. As a baseball card set collector, all hype does is make things more expensive for me to acquire. I don't like that. I also don't like when Topps decides to go "all-in" on a certain team or player and produce tons of cards of the player. Topps was guilty of that with both of the Nationals' much ballyhooed rookies.
Reason #2: I miss the Expos and I hold the Nationals franchise responsible for the Expos' demise. This reason alone is enough to rank the Nationals quite low on most people's lists I would think.
Reason #3: On a more personal note, Washington's stadium is one of the closer stadiums for me to visit (it's about 5 hours or so from my house). Unfortunately, I basically never want to go there anymore because of how expensive it is to park at the stadium. One of the last times I went, we had to pay $40 for game day parking (and the Reds lost)...pretty sure we had two tickets for less money than that.
As always, I do try to find the good in each team on my countdown as well. For the Nationals, while parking is absurdly expensive (or at least it used to be), I did happen to like their stadium quite a bit once I was in it. The second time I went to a game there, I even ended up on the jumbotron which was fun. During that game, I was decked out in my Reds gear and I was with two friends who were in their Yankees gear. If I recall correctly, the game we saw was a meaningless game between the Nationals and the Diamondbacks. There weren't many people in the stands that day - but when the jumbotron's cameras turned on to the three of use, we all cheered and pointed to our respective team's logos. When my two Yankee friends did that, the few fans in the stands actually booed which cracked me up (I also booed them because that's the kind of friend I can be). It was all in good fun!
My list of favorite MLB teams (from worst to first):
#30: St. Louis Cardinals (post)
#29: New York Yankees (post)
#28: San Francisco Giants (post)
#27: Washington Nationals
to be continued...
Interesting choice for #27... they would have been in my top third, but mostly because I feel sorry for them. They have made the playoffs pretty regularly as of late, but I don't recall them ever getting out of the first round. Also, that whole public transportation thing where it often doesn't run late enough for a fan to stay for the end of a night game... what's that all about?
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Nationals fan, but if I was there the same day as you and your friends... I would have booed your buddies as well ;)
ReplyDeleteAs a Nats fan this ranking makes me sad, but I understand the reasons why. I also hate the Topps way of catering to the #1 Rookie fans. And I hate that they superdouper doubly short printed Bryce Harper's 2012 Archives RC. Selling for a minimum of 3 digits when it was spanking brand new upon it's release. Super Mad as hell about that super short print card I'll probably never own. This past year of The Ohtani RC and the damn hunt for his Chrome autograph or whichever super short print card took the cake for the ridiculousness of it all. Glad I'm not an Angels fan and have no real interest in the guy's cards other than the fact that he is a double threat at batting and pitching. Yes I saw a news report on him about a year or two before he actually made the move to the MLB and the US. It was around the time talk of him going to the US was just getting started. Oh I also feel sorry for Montreal (I liked them) I sometimes feel bad for their team loss but on other hand we in the DC area had to wait 33 frackin years to get another baseball team and we end up getting a 25 year old Canadian team at that eh! During the 1980s and 90s I thought there would never be a baseball team in DC ever again. The Orioles never quite stuck as my "homie" team even though I live in MD. I'm closer to DC than Baltimore but still sort of in the middle. So now Montreal fans after 15 years without a baseball team are feeling about the way I felt in the mid 1980s and probably still mad as hell still at the MLB for moving their team.
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