MLB Power Rankings: The 15 Most Hated Teams in Baseball History
Power ranking the most hated teams in baseball history is not easy to do. What makes baseball fans and non-baseball fans across the country hate a team depends on many factors.
Hometown fans love a team no matter what happens or what dirtbag is on the roster...for the most part.
But we're trying to think bigger here. Outside of that one particular city, the following 15 teams have plenty of reason to be hated.
No, we're not saying all 25 players, the manager, the coaches, the owner and the guy who sells the hot dogs in the stands were hated or bad people. But for one reason or another, there was a reason they deserved the ire of sports fans.
No. 15: Toronto Blue Jays, 1992
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To many, it was a nice story that the Blue Jays won the World Series in 1992.
But plenty of people didn't like the fact that the championship for "America's Game" went to a team in Canada.
And since there were a few players on that team who were seen as hired guns such as Jack Morris, Joe Carter and Dave Winfield, winning the championship over a team with home grown talent like John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Dave Justice, Ron Gant, and Steve Avery made the Jays far less likable.
No. 14: St. Louis Cardinals, 1967
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Because he was so utterly dominant as a pitcher, any team that Bob Gibson faced naturally made him a hated man in National League cities across the America.
And since he was already so fearsome, he didn't need to throw at batters to intimidate them. Nevertheless, he did, hitting 102 during his 17-year career.
That didn't exactly make him well-liked.
But Gibson's 1967 Cardinals teams had a few players with checkered MLB legacies as well.
Roger Maris was on that club, just six years removed from breaking Babe Ruth's hallowed single-season home run mark.
Young lefty Steve Carlton was well known for having disdain for the media and didn't cut a great PR image.
And since that team ruined the Boston Red Sox "Impossible Dream Season" with a seven-game victory in the World Series, plenty of New Englanders had reason to hate this club.
No. 13: Oakland A's, 1989
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Maybe this is somewhat retroactive hatred, but any team with Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco has to be hated, right?
Even back then, the "Bash Brothers" and their unique home run celebration/high-five was annoying to some.
But McGwire and Canseco weren't the only reason to hate this team. Rickey Henderson was a pretty brash self-promoter.
And since that A's team won the World Series during the tragedy of the earthquake, everything about that victory was bizarre.
No. 12: Detroit Tigers, 2003
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There was nothing particularly dislikable about the players or manager Alan Trammell.
But when you post the worst record since the expansion Mets of 1962, it's hard to be well-received.
Although they hadn't reached the postseason since 1987, The Tigers had been a proud franchise. So that season was an embarrassment. They lost 17 of their first 18 games, were shut out 16 times and allowed double-digit runs 21 times.
That makes for a long summer in the Motor City, where they had to be hated. The other 13 American League cities should have loved this club.
No. 11: Baltimore Orioles, 1988
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As bad as that 2003 Tigers team was, the Baltimore Orioles of 15 season earlier was more hateable.
They may have had two beloved players in Cal Ripken Jr. and Eddie Murray, but losing the first 21 games of the season renders a club a laughingstock, something that couldn't have gone over well for the fans of a franchise that had won the World Series five years earlier.
Oh and it was during that 1988 season that Billy Ripken, Cal's brother, posed for his infamous baseball card. Google it!
No. 10: Chicago White Sox, 1997
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The hatred for this team should be redirected at two men: general manager Ron Schueler and owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
Less than two years before, Reinsdorf would oversee the dissection of his Chicago Bulls dynasty. His other club, the White Sox, was only a game out of first place in the AL Central on July 1.
Neverthless, over the next month, the Sox opened a historic fire sale.
They dealt away Harold Baines, Danny Darwin, Tony Pena, Darren Lewis, Wilson Alvarez and Roberto Hernandez over the next few weeks.
The infamous "White Flag Sale" helped Chicago finish the season 27-28 and helped Cleveland win its third straight AL Central.
No. 9: Kansas City Royals, 1985
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Hatred doesn't have to only be about unlikable or dirty players.
Winning a tainted, or at least controversial, title can leave a champion hated by many.
The St. Louis Cardinals led the Kansas City Royals three games to two with a 1-0 lead in the ninth inning.
The rest is history. Umpire Don Denkinger blew a call at first base, the Royals scored two runs, won Game Six, then won Game Seven.
Although Denkinger was the goat, it's hard for people outside of Kansas City to like the Royals championship team that probably should have lost.
No. 8: Baltimore Orioles, 1996
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Forget the fact that this team's leadoff hitter was Brady Anderson, the man who from out of nowhere hit 50 home runs.
Or that David Wells was one of their starters.
Or that Rafael Palmeiro was the most potent bat in their lineup.
The 1996 Orioles' Gold Glove All-Star second baseman, Roberto Alomar, spit in an umpire's face during a game in late September.
Even the presence of Cal Ripken, less than a year removed from breaking Lou Gehrig's streak, wasn't enough to keep this team from being hated.
No. 7: Boston Red Sox, 2007
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The Red Sox's second World Series title since 1918 wasn't nearly as "magical" as the first.
Boston wasn't the David toppling Goliath anymore, and it wasn't a rag-tag club of idiots who rallied around the Cowboy Up mentality.
It had the very unlikable J.D. Drew, two extremely high-priced newcomers in Daisuke Matsuzaka and Josh Beckett (by now, Boston was almost indistinguishable from the Evil Empire Yankees) and the increasingly mouthy Curt Schilling.
And after nearly a decade, Manny Ramirez's antics were starting to get old, and he would soon wear out his welcome in Boston.
No. 6: New York Mets, 1992
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Spending millions on free agents Bobby Bonilla and Eddie Murray wasn't nearly enough to make the Mets respectable in 1992.
Nor was trading away well-liked players Hubie Brooks and Kevin McReynolds for Brett Saberhagen (who only made 15 starts).
Sending David Cone, their longtime ace, to the eventual World Champion Blue Jays didn't make the fans at Shea happy either.
If this type of wheeling and dealing and over-spending for past-their-prime stars was to be the future of the Mets (and it was), it's hard not to hate this team.
No. 5: New York Yankees, 1985
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By the mid-1980s, George Steinbrenner's wackiness had started to get annoying to everyone, not just Yankee fans several years removed from a World Series championship.
And it reached a new low in 1985.
First, Steinbrenner fired the beloved Yogi Berra after a 6-10 start, only to hire Billy Martin for a fourth time (he would be fired at the end of the season). Late that season, Martin would allegedly get into a fist fight with pitcher Ed Whitson and break his arm.
Finally, during the stretch run of that 1985 season, Steinbrenner publicly blasted one of his own players, Dave Winfield, whom he infamously referred to as "Mr. May."
The Yankees annual drama was in full swing at this point.
No. 4: San Francisco Giants, 2002
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To millions of fans who didn't like him even before the BALCO scandal, it was bad enough that Barry Bonds had set the single season home run mark a year earlier.
But the team's other NL MVP, Jeff Kent, wasn't all that likable either. Not only did he get into a shoving match in the dugout that year, but he broke his wrist motorcycling that offseason and lied about it, saying he slipped washing his truck.
The thought of those two winning a World Series (six outs away from taking the title over the Angels in Game Six) was hard to swallow, especially since Bonds completely wiped away the stigma that he wasn't a clutch player, hitting eight home runs in just 45 at bats.
Oh, and letting a three-year-old (manager Dusty Baker's son) serve as a batboy only to see him run onto the field during a play is pretty bad. If J.T. Snow didn't save the day, this team would transition from "hated" to "grossly negligent."
No. 3: Florida Marlins, 1997
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No team ever bought a championship quite like the 1997 Marlins.
They stockpiled free agents and big contract talent like Bobby Bonilla, Devon White, Moises Alou, Gary Sheffield, Alex Fernandez, etc.
Not only that, they had a fan base that didn't seem to care.
To Cubs fans, Red Sox fans, and especially fans of the Cleveland Indians (who the Marlins beat in the World Series), that city didn't deserve a World Series title.
No. 2: New York Yankees, 2007
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The fact that Roger Clemens hadn't yet been labeled a steroid user doesn't quite matter. After 24 seasons, plenty of people didn't like him. Or the fact that Andy Pettitte wouldn't admit to taking steroids until the next year.
Jason Giambi had already admitted to taking PEDs.
Although Alex Rodriguez hadn't done the same yet, he didn't need to in order to be hated by many across the country.
And then there was Carl Pavano, the free agent making $10 million to make just two appearances.
That team also cost Joe Torre, who most people really liked, his job.
No. 1: All 28 Major League Teams, 1994
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Everyone (the owners, the players, the executives) was to blame for the 1994 strike that forced the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.
Somehow, the labor issues should have been resolved to avoid the work stoppage that cost baseball dearly over the next few years.
It's one thing to strike and miss a few games or even a large portion of the season, like what happened to MLB in 1981, the NFL in 1987 or the NBA in 1998. But to miss the postseason altogether was an unforgivable offense.
