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 their favoritebaseball teams. The New York Yankees were the mostpopulafr team, followed by the Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louix Cardinals. The Pirates' highesr rank on the poll in the past ten yeard camein 2005, the year befores Pittsburgh played host to the MLB All Star Game at PNC The team was 8th in popularithy in 2005, dropping to 21st in 2006. The Toronto Blue Jays (Canadia residents were not included inthe survey) were the leasg popular along with the Kansas City Royals, Los Angelees Angels and Washington Nationals.
The Tampa Bay Rays improvexd from 28th to 17th after winning the American League titlelast year. The Philadelphia Phillies won the Worlde Series last year but did not see theirtpopularity improve. The Phillies rankedc seventh in 2009 and sixthin 2008. Twenty-ond percent of poll respondents named the Boston Red Sox most likelu to win the World Serieszthis year, the top rank on that Less than 0.5 percent of those polled said the Pirates would win the 2009 Worlf Series. .