Last year, I decided to rank all 30 MLB teams in order by my personal preference. While the Reds were the obvious #1 choice for me, some of my other picks were a bit of a surprise for some people. In fact, this is how I ranked all 30 teams in 2019:
#30: New York Yankees (2019 Ranking: #29)
The Yankees have the distinction of moving in the worst slot in my MLB countdown, dropping down one slot from last year to settle into the basement this year.
As a small market fan, the Yankees are an obvious source of angst. As a baseball card collector, the Yankees are an obvious source of over-saturation. And finally, as a baseball fan in general seeing the Yankees have a real shot at being awfully good in 2020 means that I'll have to hear even more about them than I usually do. Ugh.
Oh, and did I mention that the Yankees have Derek Jeter going into the Hall of Fame this year so that even that discussion will be Yankees dominated? Double ugh.
I admit that it's almost cliche to hate the Yankees but when push comes to shove, I'll still root for whoever is playing the Yankees which means they are my clear #30 team for 2020. That, of course, means that last year's #30 won't be a repeat "champion" for the slot. Watch out world, the Cardinals are moving back up the rankings this year...but the question there is exactly how far will they rise?
Now, with team #30 out of the way let's talk about the contest.
Each of my 30 MLB Teams in 30 Posts will feature at least one card from the featured team. When the entire series is over, I'm going to give away all of the cards featured throughout the entirety of the posts (thus that custom Jeter card you see above is the first card to be added to the pile that I'm going to give away).
How to enter? Easy.
You get one entry for leaving a comment on each 30 MLB Teams in 30 Posts for 2020 BUT you must do so on the post prior to the time the next slot is revealed. You get a bonus entry if you correctly guess the next team on my countdown (so for this post, you'd be guessing which team is #29 on my list). I'd love to hear your take on the featured team of the post and I'm hoping this series and contest spurs a little more life into my blog's comment section!
#30: St. Louis CardinalsTo be honest, I figured I'd need to wait four or five years before repeating the process since I figured my rankings of the teams wouldn't change all that much from year to year. Oh how wrong I was! In fact, this year's list is drastically different than last years (other than team #1 of course) and so I figured it would be fun to go through everything all over again.
#29: New York Yankees
#28: San Francisco Giants
#27: Washington Nationals
#26: Boston Red Sox
#25: Chicago Cubs
#24: Atlanta Braves
#23: Los Angeles Dodgers
#22: Milwaukee Brewers
#21: Miami Marlins
#20: San Diego Padres
#19: Arizona Diamondbacks
#18: Texas Rangers
#17: Los Angeles Angels
#16: Kansas City Royals
#15: Minnesota Twins
#14: Oakland Athletics
#13: Philadelphia Phillies
#12: Tampa Bay Rays
#11: Toronto Blue Jays
#10: Detroit Tigers
#9: Chicago White Sox
#8: Colorado Rockies
#7: Baltimore Orioles
#6: Seattle Mariners
#5: New York Mets
#4: Cleveland Indians
#3: Pittsburgh Pirates
#2: Houston Astros
#1: Cincinnati Reds
#30: New York Yankees (2019 Ranking: #29)
The Yankees have the distinction of moving in the worst slot in my MLB countdown, dropping down one slot from last year to settle into the basement this year.
As a small market fan, the Yankees are an obvious source of angst. As a baseball card collector, the Yankees are an obvious source of over-saturation. And finally, as a baseball fan in general seeing the Yankees have a real shot at being awfully good in 2020 means that I'll have to hear even more about them than I usually do. Ugh.
 |
| Custom card by my buddy Ryan. |
Oh, and did I mention that the Yankees have Derek Jeter going into the Hall of Fame this year so that even that discussion will be Yankees dominated? Double ugh.
I admit that it's almost cliche to hate the Yankees but when push comes to shove, I'll still root for whoever is playing the Yankees which means they are my clear #30 team for 2020. That, of course, means that last year's #30 won't be a repeat "champion" for the slot. Watch out world, the Cardinals are moving back up the rankings this year...but the question there is exactly how far will they rise?
Now, with team #30 out of the way let's talk about the contest.
Each of my 30 MLB Teams in 30 Posts will feature at least one card from the featured team. When the entire series is over, I'm going to give away all of the cards featured throughout the entirety of the posts (thus that custom Jeter card you see above is the first card to be added to the pile that I'm going to give away).
How to enter? Easy.
You get one entry for leaving a comment on each 30 MLB Teams in 30 Posts for 2020 BUT you must do so on the post prior to the time the next slot is revealed. You get a bonus entry if you correctly guess the next team on my countdown (so for this post, you'd be guessing which team is #29 on my list). I'd love to hear your take on the featured team of the post and I'm hoping this series and contest spurs a little more life into my blog's comment section!
It's always proper to place the Yankees last, but I'm a Jeter fan, so I'm happy that he'll be enshrined in Cooperstown.
ReplyDelete#29... I'll say the Cubs, even though you just signed Castellanos.
Good job. 👍
I'm interested to see how this winter pans out for the Reds. It looks good on paper, but how will it look when Strop's hat is crooked and he can't find the strike zone?
DeleteThat custom Jeter is quite nice and a good start for the contest stack of cards. I'm happy about the Castellanos signing. I'm not sure that Strop will be as good but for the money I'll take any bullpen help I can get I guess.
DeleteI really enjoyed your countdown last year and I'm looking forward to this year's just as much. I'm hemming and hawing about where the Cardinals are now ranked, but I have to feel the Astros took a mighty tumble in your rankings. No? I'll go with the Houston Asterisks at #29.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting concept for a contest! I'm not a Yankee fan either but I thought they would get a little more sympathy here for being one of the primary postseason victims of the Astros cheating scandal.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that #29 will be the Washington Nationals.
Yankees , you either love them or hate them--no two ways about it. I'm going with the Red Sox at # 29
ReplyDeleteAs a Mets fan, I will always have the Yankees as my least favorite team. My brother, the Red Sox fan, agrees--but our Dad is a Yankee fan! When my brother's younger daughter was small, I got her a t-shirt which read "I can't even walk yet, and I already hate the Yankees". https://images.app.goo.gl/hHkJvzcJd3DCRacj9 He loved it.
ReplyDeleteJeter certainly deserves to be in the Hall, FWIW.
I'm going to go conservative and guess that if the Cardinals were #30 last year, they'll be #29 now. And if not, I'll probably keep guessing them until they do show up.
The Yankees would be in my #30 slot as well. The Dodgers would be my #29... but I'll go ahead and say the Cardinals are your #29.
ReplyDeleteThe Yanks are always at the bottom of my list but I fear the Astros will be at the bottom for most others. Astros #29
ReplyDeleteI'll say the Cardinals are next at #29, because the Astros hired Dusty Baker to keep themselves afloat.
ReplyDeleteEven though my team is not going to be high on your list, any time the Yankees come in dead last is a good list. I'm going to play it safe and say the Cardinals don't leapfrog anyone.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to hockey kazi as the one person who correctly guessed the next team on the list: the Boston Red Sox. Lots of good guesses here though, including a few teams that will show up soon(ish) on my countdown. The guessing should (in theory) get easier as the contest moves forward since there will be fewer and fewer options.
ReplyDelete