The Other Team(s) I Like The Most

[h2oface]

As baseball fans, when our beloved team is disappointing us, or just because we have more love for the game than we know what to do with, many of us often have other teams that we follow and enjoy to root for, as long as they aren't playing the Twins, or competing with the Twins for a play-off spot.

 

Who is that team, or teams, for you?

 

For me, having secondary fandom for other teams has been somewhat peripatetic. Sometimes it has to do with where I live, and that changes. Sometimes it has to do with players being traded or moving to a different team as a free agent after the Twins were too cheap to retain them. As a child, it started by deciding to have a National League team to root for to compliment the American League Twins. That was OK, because the Twins would never play them unless they got to the World Series. I find it more interesting to spread the love than develop hate.

 

Here are mine:

 

1. St Louis Cardinals - As a kid growing up in Rapid City, South Dakota, it was the closest National League Team, and I had read biographies of Stan Musial, Dizzy Dean, Red Schoendienst, and Rodgers Hornsby. I got to watch Bob Gibson, Ken Boyer, Ozzie Smith, Lou Brock, and Curt Flood play. As an adult, I love the way they put together teams, and how they always seem to have a great farm system. Still, during the 1987 World Series, they got no love from me.

 

2. Kansas City Royals - It started the first year in 1969 when Lou Pinella won ROY. The ‘80s were great for me, because not only did my beloved Twins finally win a World Series, but the Cards and Royals gave relief during down years as they always seemed to be in it, and brought home a couple championships in addition to the Twins. George Brett and Bret Saberhagen were in their prime. 1985 was a lot of fun, because I really didn’t care who won the World Series between the Royals and the Cards. I could like them both without the stress the Twins’ games give me. By then I was living in Lincoln, Nebraska, and KC was even closer.

 

3. Washington Nationals - When the Montreal came to DC and the Nats were born, I was living in Charlottesville, Virginia. Another case of proximity.

 

4. Los Angeles Dodgers - Living in the megalopolis of the Los Angeles area now, I go to Dodger games quite often. It kinda goes against my grain to like an organization that can have whatever they want, and there is still that childhood memory of the 1965 series and Sandy Koufax pitching a game 7, 3 hit 2-0 shutout with 10 strikeouts on only 2 days rest and crushing this 10 year old baseball fan’s world…… but I really enjoy the team and the games and the fans I have met and go to games with.

 

5. Oakland Athletics - I loved the white shoes and young Reggie Jackson and Vida Blue and Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers. I loved watching the Bash Brothers come up together. Now I admire Billy Beane, and the way Oakland always seems to be in the hunt.

 

I like the Orioles from my trips to Camden Yards to see the Twins’ series as I lived in Charlottesville for 25 years, and for most of the time, it was the closest Professional team. And is it such a beautiful and wonderful ball park. I have a soft spot for the Mets from my childhood and that Miracle 1969 team.  I always liked the Giants (except in the Barry Bonds years) and like seeing them be successful, their personalities not being vanilla, and have enjoyed seeing them win some championships after all these years. Brian Sabean can be GM of the Twins anytime in my fandom.

 

How about you? (You can pick more than one. The order listed is random)

[ashbury]

Giants. They were my first MLB game when I was 12 and lived in the Bay Area for a year. I moved back West almost 20 years ago and resumed a vague and general rooting interest in them.

[biggentleben]

Twins.  That's why I'm here!

[IndianaTwin]

Of course, my real rankings are:

 

1. Twins.

2-29 (tied). Everybody else.

30. White Sox.

[Squirrel]

1. Twins

2. Whoever is playing the White Sox

[Dantes929]

Though I believe there have been a couple times the Giants would not even have made the playoffs if in the AL (including at least once the AL Central) I really enjoy a team that can win the WS a couple times with what appears to me to be smoke and mirrors.   They rely on their pitching, throw average velocity fastballs and throw them less often than anyone which defies all current trends and beliefs and yet they make it work.

[formerly33]

Always the Twins. Except when I remember that Morneau is on the Rockies now.

[blairpaul715]

I grew up watching WTBS Atlanta on my cable in north central North Dakota, altho also had WGN, but didnt follow the Cubs................So i was born a Twins fan, but became a Braves fan in the mid 70's when i got to see them on TV on a semi regular basis.............So I considered myself equally a Twins fan and Braves fan, then came that fateful 91 postseason, one of the best........i told my friends that since the Twins won in 87, i was going to cheer for the Braves, since I LOVED both teams.........Well......the first pitch was thrown and i was all of a sudden, I was NOT a Braves fan , at least for the World Series ........I still cheered and still follow the Braves, but nothing like I do my beloved Twinkies .............I guess i should have known when i think back on it, when back in the late 70's early 80's when we were REAL BAD, and my hometown decided not to carry them on radio, i would be in my room, listening to a Devils Lake radio station with the radio cracking and barely audible sounds while listening to the Twins lose 90 plus or maybe they lost 100, but i was there as a true Twins fan, and i guess i will always be.

[James]

1.Twins

very, very distant 2. Oakland - That is almost entirely because of the elephant logo and how the story behind it.

3 - 28. - Most everyone else.

Constantly shifting between 29-30 - Yankees and White Sox.  

[Hrbowski]

1. Twins

2. Angels

3. Giants

4. Cardinals

5. Red Sox

[biggentleben]

 

I grew up watching WTBS Atlanta on my cable in north central North Dakota, altho also had WGN, but didnt follow the Cubs................So i was born a Twins fan, but became a Braves fan in the mid 70's when i got to see them on TV on a semi regular basis.............So I considered myself equally a Twins fan and Braves fan, then came that fateful 91 postseason, one of the best........i told my friends that since the Twins won in 87, i was going to cheer for the Braves, since I LOVED both teams.........Well......the first pitch was thrown and i was all of a sudden, I was NOT a Braves fan , at least for the World Series ........I still cheered and still follow the Braves, but nothing like I do my beloved Twinkies .............I guess i should have known when i think back on it, when back in the late 70's early 80's when we were REAL BAD, and my hometown decided not to carry them on radio, i would be in my room, listening to a Devils Lake radio station with the radio cracking and barely audible sounds while listening to the Twins lose 90 plus or maybe they lost 100, but i was there as a true Twins fan, and i guess i will always be.

 

Fellow Dakotan, and hardcore Braves fan.  The Twins are my secondary team, which is why I am here.  I think I've been interacting on message boards with some guys here for over a decade at this point, which is scary to consider.

[Thrylos]

Hard to see how one can have the bandwidth to really follow more than one team.  That said, there is an NL I have kept my eye on for a while (don't really follow it, I cannot recite their top prospects or even their 25 man roster) and this is the team that traded both Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver, featured probably the best single best hitting and pitching talents I have seen who came up the same year, and helped them get a World Championship (the year before the Twins got their "first"), but then got their noses dirty and wasted their talent.  Kinda the East Coast Twins in a lot of respects, but a bit more drama.

[Giles Ferrell]

I've gotten attached to Washington in recent seasons. Fun team. Really makes me miss Denard Span though.

[biggentleben]

 

I've gotten attached to Washington in recent seasons. Fun team. Really makes me miss Denard Span though.

 

I'd like to attach Washington to a...

 

Oh, bad Ben, no downtrodding in this post.  I am still bitter that I have to watch NameChange Upton in CF instead of Span.

[USAFChief]

I'll go with the Gigantes.

 

After that, prolly the Dbacks, cause I can listen on radio.

 

AL, nobody. But I enjoyed the Royals run last year. Grudgingly.

[Paul Pleiss]

I pretty much like sooo many teams.

Nationals

Pirates

Dodgers

Astros

Mariners

Orioles

 

And then there's teams I like watching even though I don't really like them

Angels

Rays

Marlins

[scottz]

I only voted for the Royals in this poll, but I would have to say I go something like:

1) Twins

2) Royals (I think their uniforms are fantastic, and as a kid I liked George Brett, Dan Quisenberry, Freddie Patek, U.L. Washington (and his toothpick), Frank White, and Bret Saberhagen)

3) Cubs (WGN and lovable loser status)

4) Dodgers (My mom grew up in SoCal as a Dodger fan and the '77, '78, and '81 Series were intensely watched in my home. '77 and '78 also initiated my dislike of the Yankees.)

 

The Red Sox probably used to be on this list, because of guys like Yaz, Dwight Evans, Fred Lynn, and Jim Rice, along with lovable loser status, but once they started winning and everyone in New England started acting like winning-entitled chowderheads, they slid off my list. 

[blairpaul715]

 

Fellow Dakotan, and hardcore Braves fan.  The Twins are my secondary team, which is why I am here.  I think I've been interacting on message boards with some guys here for over a decade at this point, which is scary to consider.

Do the Braves have a site like Twins Daily other than SB Nation???

[biggentleben]

 

Do the Braves have a site like Twins Daily other than SB Nation???

 

Absolutely.  I write for Tomahawk Take, which is similar, albeit without the extensive forum.  I also participate at huzzah.co, which is actually a group of Braves, Dodgers, and Cardinals fans who bonded together for a shared forum site after ESPN sold off their forum moderation on their old team boards. The Braves board is a lot of fun on that site, though let's just say TD has infinitely more moderation!

 

I have been part of Tomahawk Chop, but once they joined together with Capital Avenue Club, that site went way downhill as far as encouraging user participation.  Certainly nothing like a lot of other SB Nation sites like John Sickels' site.