Dodgers Voted the Most Hated Baseball Team in America
The Dodgers are the team that everyone loves to hate around Major League Baseball. Fans in Los Angeles certainly know this to be true anytime they travel outside of Chavez Ravine. I was in San Diego for the Padres series last week, and it definitely felt like they hated everything about us.
According to BetOnline(via NBC’s Michael Duarte), the Dodgers are actually the most hated team in MLB. They found that through an accumulation of Twitter data over the course of an entire month. And it all makes sense.
The Dodgers are in the middle of a streak of 8-consecutive NL West titles and 3 trips to the World Series in the last 4 years. Yes, they lost 2 of those series which included being cheated out of the 2017 title by the Astros. But they also managed to take home their first title in 2020 behind Mookie Betts.
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Then the Dodgers went out at the trade deadline and got Max Scherzer and Trea Turner last month. That had to add some fuel to the hatred from other fans around the league. A team full of stars suddenly had 2 more All-Stars leading the way.
The Dodgers were the most hated team in 9 states while the Yankees took 8 states. The cheating Houston Astros surprisingly came in third with just 7 states as the most hated team in baseball. We’re always number 1.
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No shock — and I think it extends to the baseball analysts/broadcasters throughout the country. For the Dodgers, it should be an honor to be disliked by so many as it is based on recognition of continued success. GO DODGERS!
It probably is based on success, especially in the last 8 years. But I have issues when that hatred appears to extend with the umpires around the league and the Commissioner’s office.
Good point. I wonder if there is any retribution for the umpires who make these terrible calls night in and night out against the Dodgers. Are they graded? I don’t like the idea of the electronic ump but these guys are so bad it hurts the game.
I think this “report” is very flawed. It is done by tweets within states. Looking at the states that reportedly “hate the Dodgers” the populations don’t amount to much. Rather than saying “most hated team in the USA” the originator should say, “most hate motivated tweet users commenting on baseball, within a selection of states that are not that populous.”
I would agree about the report being very flawed for the same reasons you brought up. Insofar as my own experiences from Washington DC to LA and Alturas the baseball team that I’ve heard very strong dislike for is of course the Damn Yankees and its been that way for many decades.
Kind of like when you see a map full of red but the republican got slaughtered
Any ‘report’ based on tweets from the idiot-dom of twitter, is lame.
So is, trying to draw a correlation of the misleading report to some political jab, like a 14 yr old.
A very questionable article. I see a ton of blue in the stands everywhere the Dodgers play. How was that measured?
The Dodgers have a bigger fan base then virtually anyone outside the Yankees but they are hated because they win..have lots of money and play in LA. They’re Goliath…their fans invade other stadiums which is impressive but resented and they are out west and ask anyone who has lived back east…I just moved west after 25 years in Boston…the west is either hated or envied. That’s your reason.
Hahahahaha whatever clown Sox rule baby!
How bout them Sox. Nice choke job !
What a slanted “poll,” or however the hell this “data” was accumulated. The Yankees are clearly the most “hated” franchise. Also, this “writer” should also have mentioned the Dodgers clearly have the most fans. Just look in the stands whenever and wherever they play on the road. Dodger jerseys are everywhere. He mentions San Diego as proof. Of course, Madre fans hate the Dodgers. Their team sucks. They were supposed to challenge the Dodgers for the division, and they’re what? 16 games out in September? It’s jealousy. It would be like polling Clippers fans about the Lakers. But, bottom line…who cares…haters gonna hate. Jealous?
How does that Bonnie R. song go…”let’s give them something to write about” or they can just make it up …like the News Rags do
Interesting your report about Dodgers avoiding even mentioning the Dodgers poached Bauer from free agency for a $40+ million salary before Mad Max and Trea. Or how about the Dodgers are spending like drunken sailors, while the American League leading Tampa Bay Rays spend $150 million less in a season with a smiliar record, and also went to the World Series last year. I’m a Dodger fan, but no sport allows a team in their league to vastly outspend the competition. Animosity against the Dodgers? Duh!
hence MLB considering a higher floor for team payrolls
These “hated” Dodgers were very responsible with their finances for many years before their recent splurge. The Mookie Betts contract is the largest contract the Dodgers have handed out during the Andrew Friedman era. That was an extension for a player already in the organization. The largest contract Friedman has given a free agent signed away from another team is the four-year deal he gave A.J. Pollock four years ago. Even the Bauer signing was a short term deal. But no one was saying anything when we kept coming up short because we weren’t signing the free agents that would put us over the top. So f*ck them now, we are a large market team and we have the revenue to field a winner every year. Cry about the teams that do nothing with the money they get from the big market teams. That’s what’s wrong with baseball.
“included being cheated out of the 2017 title by the Astros.” Win game 7 at Dodgers Stadium and win the 2017 World Series. Sure, the Astros cheated, and sure, it played a role in the final outcome. But win at home and win the championship.
Just by reading some of the comments here, I can feel there is a lot of “disdain”, if not “hate” for the Dodgers, something that for me, validates the new title.
certainly the legion of Dodger fans that hate Doc, Belli and Kenley come to mind
Most hated must be reason opposing pitchers throwing at Dodgers batters, especially #10. And Joe, those 3 names you mention must have cost team a dozen or so wins this season. They’re the haters most liked players.
As a die hard DODGER FAN, I believe it!! THEY HATE US BCUZ THEY CAN’T BE US!! It’s not our fault that we travel and show up to a lot of road games and we our presence known!! Or that our GM is the best out there, maintaining one of the best farm systems in the majors, signing a bunch of diamonds in the rough other teams gave up on. Making trades for all-star caliber players without giving up much in return.
Finally! Success! We made it to the top!
Cry me a river Yankee fans!
Hey Brooke,
I find it hard to believe you don’t even allow some criticism from a Dodger Fan who has rooted for them since the days of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.
My comment was only related to the out of balance spending the Dodgers have had this year, surpassing all competition by a wide margin, and if you don’t know, that is how the Yankees became the most hated team in sports years ago.
Dodger fans can have different views about this, and we aren’t a monolithic block like your site pretends we are. It’s OK to address the Elephant in the room. Consider having some honest dialogue, your site will benefit from it.
Take Care,
John
Johne, your comment just needed to be approved. “Brooke” isn’t silencing your criticism of the team.
Cheers.
Your follow up comment was MUCH more gracious than your original. You were practically slobbering in the first one.
That said, of course you are correct. NY bought 27 rings, and everyone was mad/envious/jealous.
Same reason the US gets a lot more grief from the world than say…Ethiopia. Winners get hated. If that bothers someone, they have the option to be one of the loveable losers. 😉
Everyone loves an underdog, because…they are UNDER them.
Apparently there are those who do believe how the Astros cheated in 2017 is perfectly ok to not be considered the most hated team in MLB. However, I have a concern over the league umpires and that spineless Manfred acting like they hate the Dodgers the most. Just look at all the very bad strike calls that go against them as opposed to any other team. And that jerk of a Commissioner can’t seem to wait to pass down the most harshest of punishments against this team that other teams won’t face.
Was that a survey of baseball fans or just MLB umpires! (Rim shot)
That was great!!
Houston should be the most hated sports team in the world. They are all a bunch of cheaters.
“Beat L.A.” is a nationwide cheer. Completely cliche’!!!
We have the money to spend on the best, because we have the best fans. Who has the most sell out games. Dodgers. Who most likely sells the most mechandise. Dodgers. Who sells the most peanuts, and Cracker Jacks, Dodger Dogs, and drinks. Dodgers. Do you want the owners to keep it all or buy the best money can buy? When the other teams can do what we do, I am sure they will do their best to buy the best. And… Yes… Our Farm system is the BEST!
Even rhetorical statements deserve a question mark right? Do they still are Cracker Jacks or is the preferred snack at Dodger Stadium Nachos con Queso?
It’s the Yankee effect. If you win all the time, spend as a top team, and draw a lot of fans when on the road, you will be hated. It means McCourt and Murdock are long gone.
yessir!
And we love the feeble “Beat L.A.” chants.
I’ve hated the Yankees for 60 years; I’ve hated the Dodgers for only 15; but I’ve hated ALL MLB teams including the one I’ve cheered for for the last 60 years only for 3. The owners, announcers, players and fans are worthless to me nowadays.
Well Gerry….seems like you just HATE everything……well aren’t you special?
BTW: This survey should not be considered definitive, it was done on twitter from waging site and the hate was regional anyways, here’s a map: https://media.nbclosangeles.com/2021/08/hated-mlb-team-2021-logo.png?w=1024
To Brook Smith the author of this article…too bad you missed a great Post Season last year …the guy that I saw that carried the Dodgers was Corey Seager and not Mookie Betts….Dodgers should take the hate as a badge of honor and roll with it…use it as a us against the world mentality
in other news the Dodgers won last night!!! Belli didn’t start, Kenley didn’t pitch and the Dodgers picked up a game on the gnats!
I am amazed what some sports writers “come up with”. What kind of life do they have when the best article they can write is about hate of a sports team?
Actually hard to take this article seriously when the author starts out that the Dodgers were led by Mookie to the 2020 title….I watched the NCLS…went to the WS…and if I recall correctly Corey Seager dominated both series not Mookie Betts…pretty hard not to miss that as a sports journalist
the most hated and also the most loved
Just like back when everyone hated the Yankees! The Yankees bought the pennant… and another… and another… etc.
Same thing, right?
I do admit that I hate Dave Roberts
Dr has no business managing this awesome team
To put in perspective, Gabe Kapler has far inferior talent, yet he leads the Dodgers by 1 1/2 games!!!
If we had Gk, the division wound be over!!!
What sucks, the dodgers had a chance to hire him, but mysterious picked DR.
No mystery John. Gabe doesn’t take orders. That’s why Robert got the job. Kirk Gibson was also on the list. Can you imagine….
Dave Roberts is easily the dumbest manager in baseball. The Dodgers win despite him not because of him. Best talent…best farm system…great ownership..great front office…great fan support…and a manager who is clueless as to how to manage a game. Worst handler of pitching I’ve ever seen. Runs out of players. Does not understand that advancing a runner to scoring position works more often then hitting home runs . I could go on but everyone with two eyes knows this.
A dumb article because as Dodger fans, especially blue blooded ones, or native Angelinos, why should we as fans care? We have absolutely nothing to do with contracts, who plays for the team, who starts in the game, who pitches relief especially in 1 run games and is supposed to ‘close’…No…we..don’t give a ….hoot. And to adamantly disagree with Robert’s mindlessness, or Bellringer’s consistent swinging w/ both eyes closed and leaving runners in scoring position time after time, …this is not HATE. This is passion and how we express it. Everyone in the world can watch young talented Dodgers and one day Hall of Famers play,…..and win some when they should and lose some when they shouldn’t. No other team has so many avid followers than the Dodgers and everyone can see Dodger Blue stand out in every stadium that the Dodgers come to crush their local team..
Been a Dodger fan for 70 years beginning just before Jackie arrived. The only Brooklyn Dodger fan at my small Westchester County NY HS, the favorite being the high flying and wealthy NY Yankee team. Those days hate had no baseball shelf life, baseball then being the only major sport in the country so popular that at least 3 cities supported 2 ML teams and one, NYC, having three.
Yes, Yankee fans dealt the Ted Williams Boston Red Sox team with boos which had nothing to do with hate. Baseball birthed a new phase of American culture very welcome during a time the USA dealt with war and depression. So today’s hate and most loved terms are just dialogs used by Journalists, and Sports Analysts to market their ware.
Great night….Milwaukee beats the Giants and the Dodgers beat the Braves again!! 1/2 game in
2nd….it’s great to be a hated Dodger fan, player!!!
Important win for the Dodgers. Blond hair ex Dodger Josh P. hit a home run with his new team making the score very close.
I can understand the hatred. I was a Dodger fan all my life until it was taken over in 2004 by the McCords; then the Brian Stowe incident. I became a Giants fan from then on. The Dodgers organization needs to restore & keep order. Too many people getting hurt beat up. Stupid people don’t realize you can’t play a ballgame without an opposing team.
With robot umpires the Dodgers would have won 2-4 more games this year. They are treated unfairly by the umpires.
Astros dominated the Dodgers at Chavez Revine. Stop crying pansy, lol.
Up until this year the majority of the Dodger players were home grown.The nucleus of the team came up through the organization.The people are angry because any team from the west coast either college or pro no matter what sport that dominates is always hated.Look at history USC football, Lakers
Warriors with KD 49ers with Montana.
My two favorite teams are the Dodgers, and whoever is playing the Giants.
I think the article definitively stating they were “cheated out of the 2017 title by the Astros” despite zero evidence of post season cheating in an extensive league investigation that discovered all relevant evidence to regular season cheating scandals (including multiple other teams like the Yankees); that kind of hard headed delusion and excuse making is a big reason people hate the dodgers. They are fully of bitter, biased fans as you would expect from LA. They’ll believe, embellish, or outright lie about anything as long as it favors their perception of themselves. Classic LA. People dont hate the team really, they hate the type of people who root for them and don’t believe they deserve to celebrate their own self-righteous, fair-weather fandom.
Jackson, if there was zero evidence, as you claim, then why was Astro’s manager AJ Hinch fired? I believe so was their GM. Even Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora, a bench coach with the 2017 Trashstros, was suspended for a time if I recall correctly. Manfred didn’t have the guts to suspend any of the players.
You’re one of a kind!
You’re a great example to others.
You’re always learning new things and trying to better yourself, which is awesome.