Damn Yankees

The New York Yankees are the favorite baseball team for the seventh consecutive year, according to The Harris Poll conducted by Harris Interactive.

Moving up one spot to second place are The Boston Red Sox, with the Atlanta Braves dropping one spot to third place. Rounding out the tip five are the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers tied for fourth place. In the 2008 survey, the Cubs were fourth and the Dodgers were fifth.

Harris surveyed 2,177 U.S. adults online between June 8 and June 15.

Other survey findings:
• The Cleveland Indians made the largest move, down 18 places from a tie at No. 7 to a tie at No. 25.

• The Kansas City Royals dropped nine spots from a tie at No. 20 to No. 29.

• The Red Sox may be No. 2 overall but 21% of baseball fans say they will win the World Series this fall while 19% say the Yankees will win and 18% say the Dodgers will win.

• The next teams considered to be World Series champions, albeit by smaller numbers, are the Phillies (7%), the Cubs (5%), the Tigers (4%) and the Cardinals (3%).

• While almost every other team has at least a few people saying they will win the World Series, one team does not have that secure a fan base. No one thinks the Kansas City Royals will win the World Series this fall.

• Four in ten Americans (41%) say they follow Major League Baseball and, not surprisingly, men are more likely than women to make up part of this fan base (53% vs. 29%).

• Matures (those 64 and older) and Baby Boomers (those 45-63) are more likely to be baseball fans (45% and 44% respectively) as are those who live in the East (48%) and Midwest (45%).

• Those with a household income of $75,000 or more are more likely to be fans (50%) as are college graduates and post graduates (47% each).