In the past couple days, we saw references to a Wall Street Journal sports report (for which they used an "Internet algorithm created by Nielsen Co.) on both Deadspin and ESPN.com. The aim: trying to figure out what are the most-hated teams in MLB. But in all cases -- including the initial report, as far as we can tell -- only the 10 most-hated teams and the two least-hated teams were revealed. We were curious where the rest of the teams -- most importantly the Twins -- ranked on this inglorious list. So we e-mailed David Biderman over at the WSJ, and he was kind enough to e-mail back the full list. Here you go, in order of least-hated teams to most-hated teams in baseball, at least according to an Internet algorithm from Nielsen that "uses various keywords to find out whether people have positive, negative or neutral reactions to different brands and products."
San Francisco Giants
Oakland Athletics
Colorado Rockies
St. Louis Cardinals
San Diego Padres
Tampa Bay Rays
Minnesota Twins
Detroit Tigers
Arizona Diamondbacks
Atlanta Braves
Los Angeles Angels
Florida Marlins
Philadelphia Phillies
Milwaukee Brewers
Seattle Mariners
Chicago Cubs
Kansas City Royals
Texas Rangers
Toronto Blue Jays
Pittsburgh Pirates
Los Angeles Dodgers
New York Mets
Baltimore Orioles
Chicago White Sox
Washington Nationals
New York Yankees
Houston Astros
Cincinnati Reds
Boston Red Sox
Cleveland Indians
OK, and now some notes from us:
*You'll note the Twins are the seventh-least hated team in baseball. Obviously the study was not conducted between 8 p.m. Wednesday and 2:30 p.m. Thursday. They are also the least-hated team in the AL Central.
*Somehow, the Yankees are only the fifth-most hated team in baseball. Obviously the study was not solely conducted between 2003 and 2009 in Minnesota.
*Cleveland? Most-hated? Fasola-matt, our resident Cleveland expert, what say you?
*Five of the 10 most-hated teams are on the East Coast, while the two least-hated teams are in the Bay Area on the West Coast. Having visited all of those areas, that sounds about right.
