Monday BP, 11/25

Time for a FanPulse data dump. These results were gathered before the Astros found themselves in yet another scandal, especially one that threatens to alter our perception of the team’s recent success. First thing’s first, though: here’s how FanPulse voters felt about the most recent World Series:

We can only hope that the nonzero results for “terrible” came from Astros and Dodgers fans. I thought it was a pretty good World Series, all things considered. We’ve never seen the road team win all four games. We never thought Howie Kendrick would be a postseason hero, even if our own experience with the Giants last decade tells us that of course Howie Kendrick was going to be a postseason hero.

Anyway, despite the Astros’ failure, their fans unanimously answered “Yes” to the following question:

Hey, nicely done A’s and Angels fans. It turns out having a good team every year or having an owner who tries to compete every year is good for optimism. Congrats to Jerry Dipoto for training Mariners fans to ignore the team completely.

That sense of optimism carried over to the AL East fan bases:

I like that Baltimore fans are either trolling or simply baseball fans, rolling with the optimism that comes with a clean slate.

Meanwhile, congrats to Cleveland’s baseball operations department for diminishing their base’s hope despite playing in the AL Central:

Zero FanPulse blocs in the National League believe 100% that their team can contend for the World Series. Either the NL fans are realistic or seriously self-loathing. The closest there is to unanimity is in the NL East:

I guess potentially losing Strasburg and Rondon in the same offseason is enough to hold back every voter from seeing their team as a repeat winner. Likewise, watching the Braves’ bullpen absolutely blow it on multiple occasions in the same series is enough to stoke some skepticism in the Braves’ base, I’d imagine.

Gotta say, the Phillies really did a number on their fans last year, though. They didn’t quite spend “stupid money” and after firing their manager this offseason, the base is less optimistic than Mets’ fans who . . . have no reason for optimism? Have never been happy?

These are truly strange times.

Now, the self-loathing NL Central is a division I can get behind:

The Cubs might be forcing a rebuild, but they still have talent and they’re supposed to have one of the smartest front offices in the galaxy, so, they might be down but surely they can’t be out. And the Cardinals compete every year. The Brewers actually have less of a starting rotation than either team and yet their base remains pleased.

In conclusion, the NL West results should come as no surprise:

I appreciate the 22% or so of you who said the Giants could compete for the World Series in 2020. The odds are actually closer to zero, but what’s an offseason without optimism, misguided or otherwise?