The Wall Street Journal Online, not known for their baseball-related content, published an article today about a recent study performed by Nielson Company. The goal of the study was simple: determine the most hated team in Major League Baseball.
I am not a statistical analyst, so I can't verify that the method used by Nielson Co is entirely valid. The WSJ article says they use "an algorithm designed by Nielson Co. that measures positive and negative reactions on the internet ... on a scale of -5 to 5." Having seen some of the baseball commentary on the internet (and even created some of it myself) I can tell you that most of it falls well below a "-5". With a quick Google search, one could probably unearth an article written by a teary-eyed Red Sox fan regarding Aaron Boone's home run in the 2003 ALCS that would probably merit a a triple-digit negative.
In any event, what they discovered through their research was that the people of the internet really do not care for the Cleveland Indians. While every team actually scored in the positive, Cleveland's score of 0.9 was the lowest.
Here's a list of the least-liked teams in baseball:
Sure the Red Sox and Yankees get all the press, but their rankings of #2 and #5 respectively are mostly just them hating each other. I think what really sets teams like Cleveland (#1) or Cincinnati (#3) apart (other than the fact that they're in Ohio) is the degree to which their own fans hate them. Similarly, if you root for Astros (#4) or the Orioles (#8), you are more likely to be pissed at the team than any of their rival fans.
How does Cleveland go about rehabilitating its image? I've got an idea! Why don't the Indians just blow the whole team up and bring in a bunch of scrappy scrubs from the nether reaches of baseball. You could have a washed-up catcher, a recently released inmate with a wicked fastball and control issues, a speedy outfielder with a penchant for pop-ups and a hulking slugger whose voodoo god refuses to help him hit a curve ball. If that fails, the owner could just move the team to Miami!
What do you say, Cleveland?
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