map of your favorite teams

77-92 Pirates
[90-92 very brief Padres sympathy]
93-94 Giants
94-98 self-imposed exile from MLB
98-04 Giants

I've always been Astros, through and through. This is my fourth baseball season in Rangers territory, but changing allegiances has never even crossed my mind.

However, when I had a job interview in SF, I could envision myself becoming a fan of the Giants, but not to the point of overtaking my Astros for the #1 spot. Same thing when I was thinking about moving to LA, but with the Dodgers, obviously.

Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox ever since Game 6 of That World Series (excepting brief pockets where I either thought I was too cool for baseball - ha! - or the strike happened). Every year, though, I get team crushes - last year was the Padres & Blue Jays, this year it's the Angels & Mets & Indians.

haha, I definitely have a huge crush on the mets this year, the twins, rangers. i have a very weird like/dislike/mixed feelings on the As. when bonds goes to the angels in 2006, i will learn to love them.

teams i have never liked: the braves, the yanquis, the dodgers, the red sox, the reds.

I like that "team crush" idea you've got going there David. I don't have one yet for this year. If one develops it may very well be on the Tigers.

OK, I do have something of crush on Hank Blalockthe Rangers this year.

I may even <3 that infield... they are 1,000,000 times better now since they dumped "the worst cancer in baseball".

Oh man, did anybody see Laynce Nix's diving catch in right center last night? I jumped up out of my chair and cheered at that one.

Like the song says, "Give it to me, Laynce. Push, push."

Laynce Nix = Golden God. I'd be lusting after Los Rangers most definitely, but there's something about them that I just can't get with. Soriano's Yanquis taint? Playing old farts (Young / Matthews Jr.) over the kids (Nix / Mench)? Showalter? The unis?

Well, Nix had been on the DL for the bulk of the season, but now that he's back EY is getting less PT. Matthews has given them good production and played fantastic CF while Nix was out. The UberMench is almost too much of a Pete Incaviglia clone to thrown out there everyday.

I made sure everybody in section 413 of MMP at the All-Star Game knew how good Young and Blalock are.

And those unis are pretty bland. The need to go back to the red trim.

i wish everyone would like soriano. his trade has a lot to do with my dissatisfaction with the yanks. i can't explain it, but soriano just seems to have a certain quality about him. like he really appreciates being able to make a living playing the game he loves.

1. pirates, cause i grew up in pittsburgh. 25 years now since the 'city of champions'.

2. cardinals, cause when you're a kid and everyone likes the hometown team you kind of need a second team to distinguish yourself with. in game four of the 1982 world series, willie mcgee became my favorite player.

3. in the early 80's i liked the mets a little. we got wor on cable and i liked rusty staub. but i came to despise them when they got good and rooted heavily for the sox in 86

4. the national league. my dad still refers to the AL as 'the white league' because i guess it was slower to integrate, but as a kid i disapproved of the DH and generally envisioned the AL as a bunch of steve balbonis who could only strike out or homer, in stark contrast to the speedy cardinals.

5. always hated the yankees. always hated the braves. hated the dodgers for a while. always hated teams from texas. used to hate the a's, but kind of like them lately. i go to some orioles games now and tend to root against them--i don't like angelos. although i do like miggy, so maybe that'll change. i had a big crush on the giants in 2002 (although i liked that angels team too)...it's all pretty complex, eh?

xp gotta love soriano's socks, too

Always the Mets. My dad was a Yankee-hating NY Giants fan; it's in the blood.

"i can't explain it, but soriano just seems to have a certain quality about him. like he really appreciates being able to make a living playing the game he loves. "

he's an overgrown kid. not being critical, but that was always the impression i got. he could be really enjoyable to watch one minute and really frustrating the next; basically everything about the guy was that way - hitting, defense, baserunning, general attitude. but last year got borderline infuriating, and i don't regret the trade at all.

but that's exactly it! that's what i love about soriano, the kid-like quality he has.

see also tejada and andruw

omg, i can't believe i forgot to mention this!!!
i used to HATE the SF Giants and Oakland As in the late 80s, v. early 90s. I mean completely despise them and wish ill things.

Will Clark, Matt Williams, Kevin Mitchell, Jose Canseco, Mark McGuire... all on my MLB "destroy" list.

The 89 loma pietra earthquake was probably due to my telekinesis.

jeffrey leonard "one flap down"!

Gygax -- you hated Matty?? *cries*

Around '88, Giants were my #1, A's a distant #2 just because of the proximity thing. '89 changed all that and I hated the A's for about 3 years.

I actually didn't hate the Dodgers or Braves (rooting for the latter against Pittsburg in that NLCS) till '93.

Within the last couple years, I've kind of jumped onto the Bosox because of their tortuous curses. Plus, a certain switch-hitting third baseman.

Uh Red Sox since i was about 4 years old in 1978. I've had a rather short love affair with the Cardinals, when Ozzie Smith played for them.

First love (mid 80s): the royals. a result of getting interested in baseball while living in kansas as a kid. i liked george brett and bret saberhagen.

2nd love(late 80s to 94): the reds. living in northern indiana as a bigger kid, where there are some options for allegience (cubs, tigers, white sox, etc), and then retaining it when i moved to pennsylvania. i liked eric davis(!) and barry larkin.

3rd love (about 98-present): the phillies. started college in philadelphia in 97, and the proximity of an actual hometown team and the city-wide interest rekindled my affinity for baseball. like most philly fans, i have a love-hate relationship with all of the players. except maybe thome. he's too nice to hate. and chase utley.

on and off crushes throughout the years: cubs, a's.

right now, the phillies are making it easy to h8.

1989: Cubs
1990: (early) Cubs, (mid) Expos, (late) Reds
1991-94: White Sox
1995-00: self-imposed exile
2001-present: Cubs

FWIW, my Mets crush went poof last week as they traded their future away for more walks. Boo.

for brief periods pre-1981 I vaguely remember some Pirates and Astros like, but not really sure.
'81 - (liberally) '87 (give or take a year or two): Orioles (dad lived in D.C., we went to games).
'87 to prolly '93-ish: didn't care about baseball (mostly into college basketball, Louisville Cardinals in particular, starting in 1980 or so).
'94-ish to '96-ish: vague sentiments for Orioles, White Sox, Cubs.
'97-ish to '99-ish: strong Cubs fan.
'00 to now: vague sentiment for Cubs, White Sox.

I've been a Yankees fan since I started following beisbol in 1985. My grandfater was a Yankees fan, he took me to a few games and I got hooked. I almost hate the Yanks at times because of the economics and all but it'd be like betraying my grandfather so I stay the course.