A new list of the best and worst cities in America for baseball fans has been compiled by WalletHub and as expected, St. Louis shows well.

The home of the Cardinals ranks number one over all on the list that ranks the 272 American cities that feature some type of professional baseball, be it major or minor league. To put the rankings together WalletHub took 11 different metrics into account, such as the performance level of each city’s teams, the average ticket and minimum season ticket prices, stadium accessibility and other criteria.

The top five cities for baseball fans, according to the rankings are;

  • 1. St. Louis
  • 2. Pittsburgh
  • 3. Cincinnati
  • 4. Atlanta
  • 5. Cleveland

What I find confusing about that list is that a city like Cleveland makes it as number five, yet their major league team, the Indians haven't been a "successful" team on the field in years. The same can really be said about Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Atlanta, to a lesser degree. It's obvious that a city's team being successful in post season play isn't a major factor, or weighs no differently than the other 10 criteria. In my opinion it should. Fans of winning and successful teams are happier baseball fans than those whose teams struggle. Ticket prices and accessibility to the stadium are way below in importance.

I say this as an avid baseball fan and die-hard Kansas City Royals fan. Kansas City ranks #11 for the record. I'm pretty happy with that ranking, especially considering until the 2014 season my team hadn't been in the playoffs in 29 years and had 4 winning seasons in that time. However this also speaks to my point. Would Kansas City be all the way up at #11 if the Royals hadn't gone to the World Series last season? I doubt it. The other team in town, the Kansas City T-Bones, are a nice thing for local fans to have, but they aren't a major league team.

Obviously Cardinals fans are going to like and probably agree with their standing on the list. What do you think of the rest of the rankings though?

 

 

 

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