Giants 7th most popular baseball team in America
According to a new Harris poll ranking America’s favorite baseball teams, the San Francisco Giants are the 7th most popular team in the nation --- and rank better than the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The survey, released Monday by Harris Interactive, surveyed 2,227 adults online between June 14 and June 21. The New York Yankees were first followed by the Boston Red Sox (2nd) and Atlanta Braves (3rd).
Rounding out the top 10 after Atlanta are the Philadelphia Phillies (4th), Chicago Cubs (5th), New York Mets (6th), Dodgers (8th), Minnesota Twins (9th) and St. Louis Cardinals (10th).
The Toronto Blue Jays were ranked last.
The Giants were ranked number 9 last year and the Dodgers were tied for fourth a year ago.
Looking ahead to the end of the season, one-third of Americans who follow baseball (34%) are expecting a repeat and think the New York Yankees are going to win the World Series. One in ten believe the Boston Red Sox (10%) and the Tampa Bay Rays (9%) will win, while 7% say it will be the St. Louis Cardinals and 6% each say it will be the Philadelphia Phillies or the Atlanta Braves. Only 2% of baseball fans think the Giants will win the WS. Each team also evidently has die-hard fans, as each of the 30 teams has someone who believes they will win it all.
Some 36 percent of Americans say they follow MLB, down from last year when 41 percent said they followed baseball and 40 percent said so in 2008, Harris Interactive said. Men are more likely to do so than women (46 percent versus 27 percent). Also African-Americans are more likely to be followers of the sport, compared to both Whites and Hispanics (41 percent versus 36 percent and 34 percent).
There is also a regional divide, as almost half of Easterners (48 percent) say they follow baseball, compared to 34 percent of Westerners and 29 percent of Southerners.