Who makes this stuff up?

The internet is an endless source of strange stuff, and I often find myself, like Alice, falling into endless rabbit holes. It’s filled with facts, fiction, comedy, tragedy, disinformation and enough people spewing out garbage that would trigger even a chill dude like Jeffrey Lebowski. Or me. I’m not sure how I lived my life prior to the internet and most days I’m not sure how I manage to live with it. Twenty years ago, I told my wife that the internet was the best and worst thing ever invented by man. I still believe that is true.

Recently I ran across a piece that listed the most forgotten, overlooked teams in major league baseball according to a poll. Naturally, we don’t know who was polled or how many people were polled. It could have been the family and friends of the person who posted the results. They are probably all living on the east coast. Or the west coast.

My initial thoughts were the Marlins, the Nationals, the A’s, the Rays and possibly the Padres. I mean, who thinks of the Marlins outside of Miami? No disrespect to the fine people of Miami, but do the Marlins ever generate any national buzz? Same with the other four. I threw the Padres in just because they play on the west coast at a time of the day where most of us are sleeping. Don’t get me wrong, I love going to a game at Petco Park. It’s one of the finest facilities in the United States and the Padres have been mostly respectable for the last decade. We all know about the stadium and attendance issues that Oakland and Tampa are suffering through. The Nationals? I can’t even name a single player on their roster. I’m sure they’re popular inside the beltway, but out in the real world? Not so much. I should have thrown the Rockies into my initial list and the Chicago White Sox deserve a long, hard look. The fans of both teams deserve better.

Here’s the list, and spoiler alert, I only agree with one of the choices. Let me know what you think.

At number five, the pollster had the Cleveland Guardians, with 21% of the vote. I must disagree with this one. Cleveland has a fantastic ballpark, and I’ve always said that Cleveland is an underrated city. Yes, it has a reputation for crime and grime, and like many cities, there are pockets of that. But the city also has a world class art museum, a vibrant food scene, mostly affordable housing, Lake Erie, all three major sport venues in the downtown area, some interesting neighborhoods, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which should be renamed the Music Hall of Fame, as long as they’re inducting artists like Madonna and Janet Jackson). Within a 60-minute drive you can reach one of the top amusement parks in the world as well as the Professional Football Hall of Fame. The baseball team has a large following from their days as the Indians and the ballclub has been very successful on the field, posting a winning record in 19 of the past 30 seasons, including 14 playoff berths. I don’t buy the idea that they’re overlooked on the national scene. They’re one of the few ball clubs who’ve had a couple of movies made about them, one which is a cult classic, the other a piece of garbage. But I digress.

At number four, we have the Minnesota Twins with 21% of respondents voting them overlooked. I could buy the Twins at number six or seven, but four? Ahead of the A’s, Nationals and Marlins? No way. The Twins have posted a winning record in 15 of the past 24 seasons, including ten playoff berths. Much like their division rival in Cleveland, they tend to flame out in the playoffs. Target Field is an awesome ballpark, and the Twins seem to make a lot of right moves, especially in the free agent market.

Number three is the Rockies, who garnered votes from 22% of the respondents. This is the only one of the five I can agree with. I might not have them at number three, but absolutely in the top five. It’s a shame really, because Denver is a nice city, and the Rockies play in a terrific ballpark. Yeah, we all know about the altitude, yada, yada, yada. The other team must play in it as well. Deal with it. The fact is the Rockies have stunk for a long time. They’ve had five winning seasons in the last twenty years, which kind of surprised me. They made four playoff appearances in that span (another surprise) and even had one World Series appearance in 2007. Thirteen of those twenty years, they were managed by a former Royal (Clint Hurdle or Bud Black), so they’ve had that going for them. Their front office has also blown multiple drafts, made some ill-advised trades and signed some dead wood to lucrative free agent contracts. Their fans deserve better.

Number two is the Milwaukee Brewers with 23% of respondents tagging them. No way. I mean the Brew Crew might be in the top ten, maybe, but number two? Absolutely not. They’ve played winning ball in twelve of the past twenty seasons while making seven playoff appearances. Unfortunately, that regular season success hasn’t translated to the playoffs, where they’ve lost 21 of their 29 playoff games. But number two? First off, American Family Field is a spectacular ballpark. Second, Milwaukee, like Cleveland, is an underrated city. They too have a fantastic art museum, a wonderful Lake Michigan waterfront, some eclectic neighborhoods and restaurants plus the Harley Davidson Museum and the Milwaukee Bucks. They have a dedicated and somewhat rabid fan base, and they routinely draw between 2 and 3 million fans a year. Number two? Whoever puts this list together is smoking something good.

Maybe you saw this coming, maybe you didn’t, but the Royals came in the number one spot with almost 24% of the vote. Whaaat? Who are these people? Number one most overlooked team? Look, we don’t have the shiny regular season records that some of the other teams have but we do have two World Series appearances and one championship in the last ten seasons, plus a dedicated, if somewhat tortured fan base. I don’t need to sell the Kansas City area to you, but I’m going to try anyway. Let’s just start by saying world class BBQ, the Nelson Atkins, the Plaza, the World War I museum, the Negro League Hall of Fame and the American Jazz Museum, Worlds of Fun, the best fountains this side of Paris, the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, Jackson Mahomes, Travis Kelce and his girlfriend, plus Kauffman Stadium is still a wonderful place to see a ballgame. Plus, Bobby junior and Salvy, both charismatic leaders of a rising team. Yeah, we got some good things here.

For what it’s worth, my top five forgotten, overlooked major league baseball teams are: Miami, Washington, Oakland/Sacramento/Vegas, Colorado and the Chicago White Sox. I’m probably forgetting someone, and if so, I apologize for not offending you. I’d put Tampa at number six only because of their stadium and attendance issues despite making the playoffs the last five of the last six seasons. Number seven to ten is a tough one. I think the four teams that could land there are the Diamondbacks, the Royals, the Twins and my dark horse candidate, the Mariners. Like the Padres, the Mariners play at an hour when three quarters of the country is asleep. I follow baseball somewhat closely, yet outside of Julio Rodriguez, I can’t think of the names of another Seattle player. So yeah, on a national scale, I’d say the Mariners are often overlooked and forgotten. They’ve had nine winning seasons in the past twenty years and made the playoffs once, in which they were swept by the Astros. They’ve been around for 48 seasons and have never won a World Series. Heck, they’ve never even been to a World Series. So yes, outside of the Seattle metro area, I’d say no one thinks much about the Mariners. Looking at their history makes me feel pretty good about the Royals.

The most overlooked teams? I’ll let someone else debate that. Until then, at least were number one at something.