Fans of professional sports teams are some of the most loyal people in the world and truly care about their team that they cheer for. Not every fanbase is the same though, as some MLB teams have a greater and more loyal group of fans then others do.
Sometimes it’s due to the franchise being in a rebuild and not winning, other times its due to ownership (or lack thereof).
Let’s go over the five best (or most loyal) Major League Baseball fanbases; and the five worst.
WORST – Oakland Athletics
The A’s are objectively the worst franchise in the entire MLB, so much so that the odds that they end up moving out of Oakland are increasing by the week. This isn’t a fan issue though, it’s more of an ownership issue. John Fisher, the A’s Owner, has started the process of moving the team to Las Vegas; and all signs point to that happening.
Fans have stopped showing up to A’s games because the team is horrid, and ownership is doing nothing to change that. The Athetics have an active payroll of 58 million dollars. That might sound high to a casual fan but compare that to the Mets 344 Million or the league average of about 160 Million, and you can tell where the issue is at
BEST – San Diego Padres
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Things have been getting a whole lot better for the Padres and their fans over the last couple years, and they are one of the best up-and-coming MLB franchises in the entire league. With the likes of Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Juan Soto, the Padres have the 3rd highest attendance in the MLB despite them currently being 4th in the NL West. Padres’ fans show up, and they show up in big quantities.
WORST – Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates always seem to be in a rebuilding mode of sorts, and it is noticeable when you look at their fans and fanbase. Fans like to be behind and support a winner, and the Pirates just aren’t that and haven’t been since 2015 when they lost in the NL Wild card to the Cubs.
Out of the 137 seasons they have been in the MLB, they’ve made the playoffs a whopping 17 times. That might be the most embarrassing number I’ve ever seen.
BEST – Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers lead all of MLB in attendance by over 400k people, and that’s due to being an annual contender year in and year out. I know, they are also located in a primetime city like Los Angeles.
Being in LA means you must compete with 12 other major league professional sports teams, and the Dodgers still manage to lead the MLB in attendance and support despite that. Some fans that go to watch the Dodgers aren’t the biggest sports fans, but I still consider them to be one of the best fanbases in the league.
WORST – Miami Marlins
Just like the Dodgers that I talked about above, the Marlins also have big competition in Miami when it comes to other sports teams. Unfortunately, the Marlins are on the lower end of Miami sports teams compared to the others.
The Dolphins are one of the hottest NFL teams right now and are always talked about despite their performance on the field. The Miami Heat are coming off an NBA Finals appearance after losing to the Denver Nuggets. Inter Miami CF just signed the GOAT in all of soccer history, Lionel Messi.
The Marlins are a fine team, and are currently over .500, but most people care about the other teams more than the Marlins.
BEST – New York Yankees/Mets
Yankees and Mets fans are both not going to like being lumped in together here, but they both have some of the best and most loyal fanbases in the entire MLB and honestly in all major league sports in general.
The Mets and Yankees are both having down years record wise, and yet they are #1 and #2 in attendance. Hats off to both fanbases, you guys are excellent. Baseball is just better when the Yankees and/or the Mets are good teams.
WORST – Chicago White Sox
The Chicago Cubs were always deemed the “loveable losers” for many years up until they won the World Series in 2016. But with the White Sox, they just feel like “the other team” that just so happens to also be in Chicago. They are just a mess all around currently.
They’re 30 games under .500, the manager is most likely going to be fired at the end of the season, and they overall just have a lack of top-notch talent to feel a sense of hope despite a bad record. The White Sox are stuck in mediocrity, and fans are not happy with that. Just do a quick google search or a search on X and find out yourself.
BEST – Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays always seem to find themselves in the playoff picture just about every season, despite the circumstances. This season is no different, with them being in the thick of the playoff race and only 2.5 games out of 1st place in the AL East. Their fans are great, and extremely loyal and supportive. But the Rays consistently have extremely low attendance no matter their record.
This is because their stadium, Tropicana Field, is typically regarded as one of the worst venues in the MLB. You know their fans are loyal
WORST – Kansas City Royals
Notice a trend? A lot of “the worst” fanbases in the MLB belong to teams that are usually bad year in and year out, and the Royals are no different.
In the not-too-distant past, the Royals were on top of the MLB when they won the World Series in 2015. Since then, they’ve been on a multi-year losing streak and fans have grown frustrated with the new ownership and the fact that they want taxpayers to fund a new venue, which has pushed some fans away from the team. Something must change In Kansas City, and it better happen soon.
BEST – Baltimore Orioles
O’s fans have been dying to root for a winning team for years now, and this year is finally the year that they get to do so. Just two seasons ago, the O’s were 52-110 and looked completely hopeless. Now, they are sitting at 1st in the AL East and with the 2nd best record in all of baseball, Orioles fans are loving it.
They have one of (if not) the best farm systems that will have them set up for many, many years to come along with already proven up and coming players such as Felix Bautista, Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, and Anthony Santander just to name a few. Oh yeah, they also have 2022 #1 Overall Pick Jackson Holliday who is still in the minor leagues but will be called up shortly. Big ups to my personal home-town team.
