As we enter the first lull of spring training, baseball fans find different ways to stay occupied. The World Baseball Classic is starting up, but Opening Day is still just over three weeks away, ya know.
One Twitter user decided to compile a bracket and run a tournament to see which MLB team has the best Twitter fanbase. The Mets won by a landslide. Are you shocked? I’m not.
Depending on what’s going on in Mets Land will dictate the overall mood of #MetsTwitter. It can be exhilarating at times, but it can turn into a dark place quite quickly. Just look at this clip of Chris Bassitt from last season. Back at the beginning of September (before New York watched the Atlanta Braves win the division), he had to comment on halting a three-game losing streak:
"The whole New York media is a little extreme…it's three games. I'm sure the world was going crazy, but we're fine."
– Chris Bassitt pic.twitter.com/gEpuurn0HD
— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2022
He’s talking about the media here, but I’m sure he’s referencing a little bit of everything.
Twitter user @BananaButt7907 (and no, that’s not a typo) began this tournament at the beginning of March. The teams were ordered by 2022 record, awarding New York with the fourth overall seed. Here’s what the initial bracket looked like:
MLB Teams Tournament.
The teams will be seeded 1-30 based on last year's standings and you will need to decide which team you like more for each poll.
Unfortunately, the Dodgers and Astros get a slight advantage due to there not being an even 32.
Retweet for more votes! pic.twitter.com/CAb0LQ6mnI
— Banana Butt (26-5) (ST: 7-4) (29-34) (@BannanaButt7907) March 2, 2023
It’s hard to see, but the Mets began their journey to a championship in the bottom left corner with a first-round matchup against the Oakland Athletics. Each round led to a blowout for Mets Twitter. Here were the results looked like for New York:
- Round 1: Mets 63%, Athletics 37%
- Sweet Sixteen: Mets 61.5%, Cubs 38.5%
- Elite Eight: Mets 63.2%, Angels 36.8%
- Final Four: Mets 77.1%, Dodgers 22.9%
- Championship: Mets 73.2%, Padres 26.8%
Now, these polls didn’t have tens of thousands of people voting. But still, they consistently seemed to land somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 votes. So, not insignificant either.
This isn’t the first time Mets Twitter has been tasked with a challenge. Just over eight years ago, David Wright was named the Face of MLB, which was a contest run by MLB Network. He beat out Eric Sogard in the finals, who was playing for Oakland at the time. This was their moment.
You can check out the results for other teams here, but we’ll give you some pertinent highlights below:
- The Yankees (51.8%) barely beat out the Pirates (48.2%) in Round 1. They were bounced in the Sweet Sixteen after barely losing to the Angels (50.6% to 49.4%).
- Atlanta (66.3%) easily disposed of the Washington Nationals (33.8%) in the first round but were also eliminated in the Sweet Sixteen, by the Baltimore Orioles (53.4% to 46.6%)
- The Phillies faced the same fate. They easily beat the Marlins in Round 1, 69.2% to 30.8%. Their run ended in the next round after falling to the St. Louis Cardinals, 53% to 47%.
So, yea — this isn’t an exact science. I’m surprised the Yankees and Braves lost to the teams they did. But whatever, right? Let’s take the crown when we can get it and hope this isn’t the last one the Mets get in 2023.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
