30 Teams in 30 Posts: #25

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 gotten through the worst in MLB of the worst (according to me).  My bottom five teams consisted of the Cardinals, Yankees, Giants, Nationals, and Red Sox.  Other than maybe the Nationals, I don't think there were a lot of surprises there.  In fact, probably the biggest surprise was a team that didn't make my bottom five:  the Chicago Cubs.

Well, perhaps they missed out on the bottom five but they didn't miss by much!

#25:  Chicago Cubs

Image source:  https://www.bleachernation.com/2019/01/25/ricketts-family-purchases-the-final-5-of-the-chicago-cubs-from-the-tribune-company/

The Chicago Cubs automatically lose some points with me since they are in the Reds' NL Central division.  I think most of us probably find the teams within our own division to be less palatable than many of those in other divisions (something that is definitely true with my list, as you'll see - though there is a pretty glaring exception to that rule on my list as well). 

Truth be told, the Cubs were quite a bit higher on my list a few years ago before they won the World Series.  The lovable loser Cubs were kind of fun.  I enjoyed the fact that they were "cursed" and that something always seemed to go wrong for them at an inopportune time *cough* Bartman *cough.*  That said, once a team wins they are no longer able to be called lovable losers...and honestly, that World Series win definitely changed the entire aura around the Chicago Cubs (not for the better in my book).

At this point, you might be wondering why the Cubs escaped my bottom five if I have nothing nice to say about them.  Here's why: 

My grandfather on my dad's side of the family as a huge Cubs fan.  My grandfather and I didn't have a ton in common to talk about, but we could always bond over baseball.  Over the years, I was fortunate enough to go to a number of baseball games with my grandfather (both at the MLB level and minor league games).  Those adventures never failed to be fun, both for me and him.  Unfortunately for him, he passed away before the Cubs finally won their World Series - but if there's baseball in heaven then I know he was looking down smiling (and probably wishing he could needle me just a bit about my pathetic Reds too)!

I should also add that the Cubs get some points in my book (along with the Braves) for being the only baseball teams that I could consistently watch back in my youth.  The Cubs on WGN and the Braves on TBS were my window into MLB games.  The Cubs, in particular, because they played a number of day games which I could watch in their entirety without being faced with a bedtime! 

At this point in my countdown, it's probably going to start to get a bit trickier to guess which team is next.  I will say, we won't be moving out of the National League for a few more spots now...but at least for the next couple of position we will leave the NL Central.  Who will be next on my list?  Stay tuned to find out.

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 (post)
#26:  Boston Red Sox (post)
#25:  Chicago Cubs
to be continued...