Many will bark jinx at the mere mention of another Phillies trip to the World Series before they have officially taken care of business against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It looks more and more likely however that Philadelphia is on a Fall Classic collision course with the New York Yankees.
In addition to sports fans in the Delaware Valley the folks at Rasmussen Reports are gearing themselves up for the World Series. A just released survey of 1,650 Major League Baseball fans nationwide was conducted on October 17-18. This came after the Phillies and Dodgers had split their first two meetings in Los Angeles and the Yankees captured a 2-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Angels.
41% expect the Yankees to win their 27th World Series this year. The Phillies and Dodgers closely split public opinion with 17% and 16% support respectively and the Angels come in at a distant fourth with just 7%. This is somewhat reflective of polls from late-August that showed 25% of fans thinking the Yankees would win the World Series against 10% who picked the Phillies, 9% who went for the Dodgers and the Angels scoring 6% of voter opinion.
Phillies fans have reason to mock such perceptions of their title chances having already overcome some negative polling in the last two seasons.
Prior to the start of the National League Championship Series unscientific polls of several dozen thousand ESPN members were evenly split on whether they believed the Phillies or Dodgers would reach the World Series. As of this morning 63% of nearly 56,000 votes cast on the ESPN website think the Phillies will win game five tonight and the NL pennant accordingly. Only in California (55%) do a majority of fans from any state side with the Dodgers chances of winning this evening. Not surprisingly Pennsylvania (87%) and Delaware (84%) are most confident for the Phillies.
The results of an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks survey conducted in late-September foresaw a Yankees-Cardinals World Series match up and the Bronx Bombers three times more likely to win a championship over either St. Louis or the Boston Red Sox. The Phillies chances were not mentioned in a follow up article on ESPN.com but the poll did offer baseball some sobering information in their battle for autumn viewership against the NFL. 41% of self-described baseball fans would rather watch a regular season NFL game than an MLB playoff match up.
In Philadelphia however there seems to be a shift in the attention and support of many local sports fans. Long known as one of the nation’s premier football towns Philly has shown hints of recent disillusionment with the Eagles just as they have gone wild for their “Fightin’ Phils”. After all the Phillies are reigning National League and World Series champions. They polished off last season’s Dodgers in five games and are hoping for a repeat performance that could conclude tonight at Citizen’s Bank Park. Their likely opponent the Yankees meanwhile are winners of twenty-six World titles and their stellar 103-59 regular season record was tops in Major League Baseball.
Rasmussen shows a closer gap in the preference baseball fans have towards the four playoff finalists. 27% are rooting for the Yankees to win the World Series, 21% for each the Phillies and Dodgers and another 18% would like to see the Angels take the title.
Harris Interactive conducted some of their own polling around this season’s All Star break. The Yankees were ranked as the most popular MLB team for the seventh straight season. Baseball should expect a boost from dreadful World Series ratings last year as both the Dodgers (fourth) and Phillies (seven) rank high on the list of most popular teams. Despite playing in the large market of Los Angeles the Angels struggle with fans nationwide, ranking just 27th out of thirty teams. Harris estimates that 41% of adults, a common theme in this article, follow Major League Baseball “somewhat” or “closely”.
The assumed Phillies-Yankees series would prove both exciting and intriguing filled with storylines that could carry well into November. While confident nearly half of Phillies fans couldn’t be termed cocky just yet. 51% of them believe their Phillies will win the World Series, but that’s a far cry from the three-quarters of Yankee fans who feel the same about their favorite club.
In addition to sports fans in the Delaware Valley the folks at Rasmussen Reports are gearing themselves up for the World Series. A just released survey of 1,650 Major League Baseball fans nationwide was conducted on October 17-18. This came after the Phillies and Dodgers had split their first two meetings in Los Angeles and the Yankees captured a 2-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Angels.
41% expect the Yankees to win their 27th World Series this year. The Phillies and Dodgers closely split public opinion with 17% and 16% support respectively and the Angels come in at a distant fourth with just 7%. This is somewhat reflective of polls from late-August that showed 25% of fans thinking the Yankees would win the World Series against 10% who picked the Phillies, 9% who went for the Dodgers and the Angels scoring 6% of voter opinion.
Phillies fans have reason to mock such perceptions of their title chances having already overcome some negative polling in the last two seasons.
Prior to the start of the National League Championship Series unscientific polls of several dozen thousand ESPN members were evenly split on whether they believed the Phillies or Dodgers would reach the World Series. As of this morning 63% of nearly 56,000 votes cast on the ESPN website think the Phillies will win game five tonight and the NL pennant accordingly. Only in California (55%) do a majority of fans from any state side with the Dodgers chances of winning this evening. Not surprisingly Pennsylvania (87%) and Delaware (84%) are most confident for the Phillies.
The results of an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks survey conducted in late-September foresaw a Yankees-Cardinals World Series match up and the Bronx Bombers three times more likely to win a championship over either St. Louis or the Boston Red Sox. The Phillies chances were not mentioned in a follow up article on ESPN.com but the poll did offer baseball some sobering information in their battle for autumn viewership against the NFL. 41% of self-described baseball fans would rather watch a regular season NFL game than an MLB playoff match up.
In Philadelphia however there seems to be a shift in the attention and support of many local sports fans. Long known as one of the nation’s premier football towns Philly has shown hints of recent disillusionment with the Eagles just as they have gone wild for their “Fightin’ Phils”. After all the Phillies are reigning National League and World Series champions. They polished off last season’s Dodgers in five games and are hoping for a repeat performance that could conclude tonight at Citizen’s Bank Park. Their likely opponent the Yankees meanwhile are winners of twenty-six World titles and their stellar 103-59 regular season record was tops in Major League Baseball.
Rasmussen shows a closer gap in the preference baseball fans have towards the four playoff finalists. 27% are rooting for the Yankees to win the World Series, 21% for each the Phillies and Dodgers and another 18% would like to see the Angels take the title.
Harris Interactive conducted some of their own polling around this season’s All Star break. The Yankees were ranked as the most popular MLB team for the seventh straight season. Baseball should expect a boost from dreadful World Series ratings last year as both the Dodgers (fourth) and Phillies (seven) rank high on the list of most popular teams. Despite playing in the large market of Los Angeles the Angels struggle with fans nationwide, ranking just 27th out of thirty teams. Harris estimates that 41% of adults, a common theme in this article, follow Major League Baseball “somewhat” or “closely”.
The assumed Phillies-Yankees series would prove both exciting and intriguing filled with storylines that could carry well into November. While confident nearly half of Phillies fans couldn’t be termed cocky just yet. 51% of them believe their Phillies will win the World Series, but that’s a far cry from the three-quarters of Yankee fans who feel the same about their favorite club.
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