Every Premiership Team and Its Major League Baseball Equivalent

Over the summer, Manchester United legend Gary Neville tried his hand at baseball.

In an effort to promote an exhibition match between the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer and United, Neville threw out the ceremonial first pitch at U.S. Cellular Field before a game between the Chicago White Sox and the Oakland Athletics. Fans who saw the performance probably agreed baseball and world football should probably not meet in this manner again, as Neville overthrew the ball by, well, a lot.

Last week, we gave you reasons why we thought Manchester United were the Yankees of world football. Many of you disagreed, and granted the analogy isn't perfect as football has a significantly higher global appeal and United have a following outside of merely being at the top of their sport. Nevertheless, with World Series fever on the brain, we thought we'd try to come up with equivalent Major League Baseball teams for the rest of the Premiership. Here are our picks, and as always, agree or disagree, have at it in the comments. 

Manchester United: The New York Yankees

Let's get the most obvious one out of the way first.

Last week, we gave you a host of reasons why United are the Yankees of world football. Both are the most successful teams in their respective league in terms of championship titles, are massive, multibillion-dollar worldwide sporting brands and sign the most mega of the megastars. They're also the teams fans love to hate (so long as you yourself are not a United/Yankees fan).

Arsenal: The Boston Red Sox

We'd hardly be the first people to point out the similarities between the Gooners and Red Sox Nation. When Nick Hornby's footy memoir Fever Pitch was adapted as a romantic comedy for American audiences, the Sox were chosen as a stand-in for the Gunners.

And the similarities are there: a nearly unhealthily passionate fan base, typical strong seasons but perennial "always-a-bridesmaid" status (at least historically) and both defied the odds to resoundingly win their respective domestic championships in 2004. 

Liverpool: The L.A. Dodgers

If there's one thing Liverpool fans love, it's their history. The glory days of Ian Rush and Tommy Smith and Kenny Dalglish, of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley—even the club anthem, "You'll Never Walk Alone," just oozes with nostalgia.

So it seemed appropriate to pair the Reds up with an MLB team with deep, deep roots in American sporting history: the Dodgers. Granted, this would probably be a more appropriate comparison had the franchise remained in Brooklyn, as LFC is so deeply tied to its Scouse roots and the fabric of the city, just as the Dodgers were so ingrained in the County of Kings—even their name was the reclamation of a derisive nickname given to Brooklynites by New Yorkers. But location aside, the Dodgers are still the Dodgers, and many of the diehards are probably in Brooklyn in spirit anyway.

Nevertheless, Dodgers fans are proud of their history, their iconic players (Roy Campanella, Jackie Robinson) and their place in baseball history, both in terms of skill and breaking cultural barriers (Robinson, the Dodgers being a leader in recruiting Asian players). 

Both sides additionally saw a lot of success in the '80s, and neither have won a national title since the late '80s/early '90s, although they've had successful streaks and the Reds have brought home silverware in the form of FA Cups and a Champions League title in 2005. 

Manchester City: The Texas Rangers

For starters, at some point in recent history, both of these teams have been bankrolled by someone who made their fortune in oil (Eddie Chiles and Sheikh Mansour). 

Big investments, big signings and a massive resurgence in recent seasons are the main sources of parallel here. After flirting with relegation at the beginning of this past decade and inconsistency overall, new ownership and a builldup of massive signings led to a dramatic increase in quality of performance for Manchester City–culminating in qualifying for the Champions League for the first time and are emerging as the team to beat in the Premiership.

Similarly, the Rangers went through a mostly-quiet decade, having not reached the playoffs since 1999. A decade later, recently-appointed team president and former MLB pitcher Nolan Ryan outbid under-fire owner Tom Hicks (Liverpool fans will certainly recognize that name, albeit not favorably) and with Chuck Greenberg, gained financial control of the club. Ryan and the club made a slew of signings after that, among them Vladimir Guerrero and Cy Young award-winning pitcher Cliff Lee. Now, following these improvements, they are serious contenders again, having won the American League pennant two seasons in a row and prior to Wednesday's game, were one game away from winning their first World Series... ever. 

Newcastle United: The Milwaukee Brewers

First, there's the beer connection—the Brewers are named for Milwaukee's beer-producing history and their ground is Miller Park, whereas Newcastle's sponsor was the city's trademark brown ale for many years and the brewery even produced a limited-edition bottle to commemorate striker Alan Shearer's footballing achievements. 

More recently (like, past couple of seasons recently), the Brew Crew and the Toon have had similar patterns of success. They both recovered from generally disappointing runs last season (12th in the Premiership for Newcastle; third place in the National League Central for the Brewers) to becoming resurgent surprise sleeper hits this year. Newcastle came out of the gate strong and went unbeaten on the season until this past weekend and the Brewers came within reach of the World Series, winning their division and getting inched out of the pennant race by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Tottenham Hotspur: The Atlanta Braves

To me, the Braves and Spurs are about on the same level in terms of being institutions within their respective leagues. They have relatively large fan-bases and usually passionate ones (although there's been quite a bit of fickleness among the Braves faithful in recent years), both teams are kind of quintessential in that Tottenham is one of those teams even Premiership neophytes know something about and the Braves were, for a long time, as they put it, "America's Team". They both hit a low point in 2008 (bottom of the league season start for Spurs and the sacking of Juande Ramos; poor performance meant TBS pulled the plug on televising the Braves) and have since been resurgent. Both can generally be expected to do well on the average season—Spurs will usually at least be in top four contention and the Braves will usually come close to making the playoffs/make the playoffs/win their division, but both usually maintain "always a bridesmaid" status. 

And for a more tenuous link, Spurs and the Braves have in common the fact that they both have long-running fan rituals critics view as being culturally insensitive: for Spurs, it's some fans' use of Jewish references and imagery and self-identification as the "Yids" (which detractors argue is cultural appropriation and will only fan the flames of further anti-Semitism directed at the club and its supporters) and for the Braves, it's the iconic "Tomahawk Chop" chant, criticized as being insensitive toward Native Americans. Obviously, not all Spurs/Braves fans are down with the Yid Army/Chop nor do those who take part mean any harm, but the criticism and controversy have been present. 

Chelsea: The Philadelphia Phillies

So the Phillie Phanatic may bear more resemblance to Gunnersaurus Rex than anything that would be seen at Stamford Bridge but other than that the Phillies and Chelsea seem a pretty okay match.

Despite being an age-old sporting outfit who has been in existence since the 19th century (as have the Phillies), Chelsea are still taunted by away fans who tell them they "ain't got no history." And although the Blues and the Phils have seen brief periods of success throughout the history of their respective leagues (the Phillies in the late '70s/early '80s, Chelsea sporadically through the '50s and '60s), both teams really rose to prominence and became permanent fixtures at the top tier within the past 10 or 15 years.

The Phillies won the World Series in 2008 and returned with an NL pennant a year later, not to mention a string of division titles, while Chelsea has taken home three Premiership titles in the past year and are now pretty much expected to be contenders for the titles or at least finish in the top four. 

Stoke City: The St. Louis Cardinals

It's all about the fans.

To those with basic knowledge of the city, Stoke-on-Trent is associated primarily with three things: pottery, being the birthplace of Lemmy from Mötorhead and Stoke City Football Club. Similarly, St. Louis is known for having an arch, being the birthplace of Chuck Berry and for the St. Louis Cardinals. In both cases, it's the last one that most frequently turns heads, makes headlines and unifies the city in sports-induced joy. 

Both teams have seen relative success in recent seasons, with The Potters reaching the FA Cup final last season and looking like contenders so far this season and the Cardinals breaking in the playoffs, going from a Wild Card team to two victories away (at time of writing) from a World Series Championship. But even if that wasn't the case, the fans would still be out in droves. St. Louis is a baseball city to its core and Stoke's supporters have turned the Britannia Stadium into an intimidating, high-energy ground where even the top clubs in the league can't help but feel a little nervous.

Aston Villa: The Chicago Cubs

Located in the middle of the country (both teams are from the "Second City," innit) but with a loyal fan-base which extends far beyond, even across some national borders, the Cubs have plenty of history, the fickle nature of success and failure and the long, long wait to return to top-tier status in common with Villa supporters. 

With the exception of a brief but highly explosive resurgence in the early '80s which saw a European Cup and a First Division title, and shared signs of promise (a handful of NL Central titles for the Cubs, a second-place finish in the first year of the Premier League and a League Cup for Villa) Villa shares the rather dubious honor alongside the hard-luck Cubbies of not having otherwise finished at the top of the league in more than a century. 

In this case, for the sake of extending the simile, Dwight Yorke, with his record-setting 60 goals, is Aston Villa's Sammy Sosa. And Bosko Balaban is Milton Bradley. 

Everton: The Kansas City Royals

The Royals and the Toffees both reached their greatest peak in the mid-1980s, and they've been trying to recapture that glory ever since. 

This might seem a little harsh for Blues fans, considering Everton have generally been more successful over the past decade or so by comparison and have a decidedly more loyal fan base. That's not to discredit the Royals fans—who do exist and will put up with just about anything—but after years of bummerdom, it's kind of hard staying optimistic. 

Actually, what the Toffees and the Royals primarily have in common is something both teams can be very, very proud of: a serious knack for finding young, up-and-coming talent. The Royals have one of the best farm setups in the MLB right now, with a number of players making the 2011 "Top 100 Prospects" List. Athough it might be a while before we see the results, the likes of powerful hitter Eric Hosmer and impressive left-handed pitcher Mike Montgomery. 

A similar story can be found at Everton and its youth academy: David Moyes and co. are great at finding young talent, from established academy graduates like Phil Jagielka and Wayne Rooney to impressive newcomers like Jack Rodwell and Ross Barkley. 

And for what it's worth, both sides have respectively great urban ballparks in Kauffman Stadium and Goodison Park. 

Blackburn Rovers: The Baltimore Orioles

Both sides have struggled in recent years and seen dwindling attendance numbers, leaving fans longing for the glory days of the early '90s (1890s and 1990s) for Blackburn and the '70s and '80s for the O's, the days of the likes of Alan Shearer or Frank Robinson and Cal Ripken, Jr.

But the loyalty of these two struggling sides' diehards, and their willingness to fight to make their teams the best they can be, is the reason they're paired together. In 2006, Orioles fans bought tickets to a match just to stage a walkout to express dissatisfaction with owner Peter Angelos. Similarly, members of the Blackburn faithful took to the streets of their hometown early on this season in a march calling for the sacking of manager Steve Kean.

West Bromwich Albion: The Colorado Rockies

For two middle-of-the-pack teams, the Rockies and the Baggies have fans who are willing and ready to show up. Last season, West Brom brought in an average of roughly 24,600 fans, almost to capacity at the Hawthorns, and the Rockies finished in the top half in terms of fan attendance, with about 2,000 fans less on average than the Chicago Cubs, a team often associated with thick-and-thin fan loyalty. 

Both teams have also been in a general rebuilding mode, with Robert Di Matteo helping lead the Baggies back to the Premiership and Roy Hodgson seeking to keep them there after finishing just barely out of the top half last season; while the Rockies cracked the postseason in 2009 and made a great run in 2010.

Queens Park Rangers: The Tampa Bay Rays

QPR has a long, illustrious history as one of West London's storied clubs, while the Rays are a relatively new franchise who have only found their footing in the past few years. Both teams have been on the rise in terms of performances, with QPR ascending to the top of English football for the first time since the '70s after new management, ownership and a series of strong performances helped them rebuild. The Rays, previously a laughing stock, experienced a similar renaissance thanks to a new manager and owner and their young players delivering, defying the odds to reach the World Series in 2008.

Despite being in a state of resurgence and playing relatively well (the Rays made the playoffs this past season; QPR rounds out the top half of the Premiership), both teams have attendance records near the bottom of their respective leagues: the Rays had the second-lowest attendance record in the MLB last season, while QPR is out-attended by the likes of Wigan and Blackburn Rovers (in their defense, the fact that Loftus Road is quite a bit smaller than most Premiership stadiums may not make for the most accurate reflection). 

Sunderland AFC: The New York Mets

What we have with the Black Cats and the Metropolitan men is something of a parallel between two teams who have seen dizzying highs and crushing lows (especially the Mets) in recent times but generally finish somewhere in the middle, but in spite of all this, both have some pretty devoted fans who have become an essential part of their cities' respective cultures.

Sunderland's Stadium of Light has been called one of the best football grounds in the world, with a fiercely intimidating atmosphere to match, and the fact that Mets fans still averaged more than 30,000 fans a game despite the slump speaks volume.

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Cleveland Indians

For two pretty okay teams, the Indians and Wolves sure have two fantastic fan-bases, with the Tribe still holding an astounding attendance record, selling out 455 consecutive home games at former diamond Jacobs Field. Those days may be gone, and the Indians finished with a losing record this season and Wolves barely dodged relegation last year, but that doesn't keep the long-suffering but totally loyal true believers from packing the place.

The mighty fortress Molineux is one of the most energetic stadiums in the Premiership, averaging 27,000 fans last season with the Wolverhampton faithful inspiring their men in orange to some jaw-dropping upsets. 

Bolton Wanderers: Pittsburgh Pirates

It's a hard-knock life for Bolton and Pittsburgh fans. Both are classic sides within their respective leagues with rich histories and a few iconic highs, but the link between the two has been more galvanized recently by the cycle of success and failure. 

After Clint Hurdle took over for the Pirates before this season, things began to look up. They reached the top of their division for the first time in more than a decade and the whole country started to take notice. ESPN2 began televising their games nationwide. But soon the crash followed and the Pirates completed their 19th consecutive losing season, finishing fourth in the NL Central.

Bolton's story is similar: with the arrival of Owen Coyle and a few key signings, the Wanderers went into the 2010-2011 season looking like real contenders. They went to the FA Cup semi-finals and spent a lot of time in the top half, but a string of defeats put them in an anti-climactic 14th place. This season, Coyle's side came out of the gate with a couple of strong performances, but things quickly soured and the Wanderers now sit in the bottom three. 

Fulham: The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

This one is perhaps a bit more tenuous as it has more to do with location, ownership and fan-base than the teams themselves. But the Angels and Fulham hit their respective strides around the same time in very recent years—the Angels advancing to the American League Division Series and Roy Hodgson giving Fulham a much-needed makeover to fight off relegation—making both sides legitimate contenders. 

That being said, Orange County is kind of the West London of America, and the experience of going to London's department store Harrods (which was owned by Fulham owner Mohamed Al-Fayed until very recently) kind of has the same excessive, touristy and vaguely unsettling feelings one might experience at Disneyland (the Walt Disney company owned the Angels until very recently). 

Although there's a pretty massive age difference, both teams play on two of the oldest active grounds in their respective leagues (Angel Stadium of Anaheim, which opened in 1966, is the fourth-oldest still in use, while Craven Cottage opened before the beginning of the 20th century). 

Wigan Athletic: The Washington Nationals

Wigan are the most recently-established side in the Premiership, just as the Nats are technically (establishment in and move from Montreal notwithstanding) the most recent arrivals to Major League Baseball, so the relative youth and lack of great recent success for both sides can account for some parallels.

Also worth noting is the fact that Wigan is a city dominated primarily by rugby league—the Wigan Warriors, the team which shares DW Stadium with Athletic, is the most successful team in British rugby league history, so it can be somewhat expected that the football team gets a bit overshadowed. Similarly, D.C. is home to a decent but well-supported NFL side in the Redskins and a cracking hockey team in the Washington Capitals, who have one of the NHL's biggest superstars in Alex Ovechkin, along with NBA and MLS teams. So often, when it comes to D.C. sports, the Nats tend to fall under the radar.

Norwich City: The Cincinnati Reds

Both sides are among the respective sport's oldest franchises, each with more than a century of history to work through and each working through a recent resurgence, with the Canaries holding their own in the Premier League after promotion last season and the Reds winning a division title for the first time in 15 years back in 2010.

For better or for worse, at various points in recent history, both teams have had their performances on the pitch/diamond often overshadowed by the sometimes controversial and often colorful antics of their high-profile owners. Celebrity chef Delia Smith and her husband are the majority shareholders at City (and perhaps best remembered for Smith's notorious "12th man" halftime speech), while the Reds' longtime owner Marge Schott became a celebrity for her antics, from outrageous (and often inflammatory) statements to letting her St. Bernards, Schottzie and Schottzie 02, have free reign of the diamond and occasionally use the outfield as a restroom. 

Swansea City: The Toronto Blue Jays

Like their Canadian MLB counterparts, Swansea City uses a bird in their logo and are the only team in the league based in another country. And, much like the Blue Jays, everyone seems to forget about Swansea until the day their team plays them. 

(Sorry, Swansea and Toronto fans.)

Just for Fun, Here's a Video of Gary Neville Attempting Baseball

Here's the video of Gary Neville throwing out the first pitch at the Park Formerly Known as Comiskey before the White Sox-Athletics game.

He should probably stick to football for now.