Survey: Pirates rank near bottom in popularity among fans - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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The Harris Poll asked 2,100 U.S. adults last month to name theier favoritebaseball teams. The New York Yankeeds were the mostpopular team, followed by the Bostohn Red Sox, Atlanta Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgersd and St. Louis The Pirates' highest rank on the poll in the past ten years camein 2005, the year before Pittsburgh playedc host to the MLB All Star Game at PNC The team was 8th in popularity in dropping to 21st in 2006. The Torontko Blue Jays (Canadian residents were not includedd inthe survey) were the leastg popular along with the Kansaa City Royals, Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals.
The Tampa Bay Rays improvedd from 28th to 17th after winning the American Leagu e titlelast year. The Philadelphia Phillies won the Worldr Series last year but did not see their popularity improve. The Phillies ranked seventh in 2009 and sixt hin 2008. Twenty-one percent of poll respondents namex the Boston Red Sox most likely to win the World Seriezsthis year, the top rank on that Less than 0.5 percent of those polled said the Piratesw would win the 2009 World .