Poll: Only 7% of baseball fans pick Phillies to win World Series, public critical of McNabb trade

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Just 7% of baseball fans think the Phillies will win their second World Series title in three years this season. Joe Torre is the early favorite to be the new baseball commissioner, Duke is narrowly favored to win their fourth ever NCAA championship and fans react to the Donovan McNabb trade.

With the Major League season underway as of last night Rasmussen Reports surveyed baseball fans on their championship picks and who they would like to see succeed Bud Selig as the league’s commissioner. An additional poll asked adults to predict who will win tonight’s NCAA Championship Game in men’s basketball, as well as share their preferences for either Duke or Butler. Turning the attention to unscientific fan polling on ESPN Sunday’s Donovan McNabb trade from Philadelphia to Washington is being viewed, by and large, as a mistake for the Eagles and an upgrade for the Redskins.

The New York Yankees who defeated the Phillies last season to capture their 27th World Series title are the pick of 29% of MLB fans to win it all again in 2010. Following the “Bronx Bombers” in second place are the Boston Red Sox (17%) who defeated New York 9-7 to open the season last night. Despite not winning a single playoff game in 2009 the popular St. Louis Cardinals are the pick of 11% of baseball fans. The Phillies meanwhile capture just 7% of the public’s confidence in spite of their great success from recent seasons.

Baseball insiders seem to like the Phillies chances of winning it all more than the general pool of big league fans. Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci picked the Phillies to win the World Series in the magazine’s feature article and baseball preview from last week. ESPN the Magazine meanwhile is picking Philadelphia to advance to the “Fall Classic” for the third straight season but lose to the Red Sox in the Series. Of the 36-analysts who made their season predictions on ESPN.com no team was given a better chance to win their division (33-picks), reach the playoffs (34), capture their league’s pennant (20), or win the World Series (11) than the Phillies.

What is particularly interesting about the fairly low percentage of baseball fans thinking Philadelphia will win another title is the lack of confidence coming from Phillies fans themselves. Whereas Yankees (83%) and Red Sox (82%) loyalists are overwhelmingly confident about their team’s chances barely more than half (52%) of Phillies fans think their favorite team will be the last standing this fall. Prior to last season the Boston Red Sox at 22% were the team most predicted to win the World Series. Boston reached the playoffs but they were ousted in the first round by the Los Angeles Angels.

Fewer baseball fans are rooting for the Yankees (21%) to succeed in their quest for back-to-back championships than those who think they will win. 15% are pulling for the Red Sox meanwhile, 12% the Cardinals, 6% for both the Phillies and Minnesota Twins and an additional 5% are rooting for the Atlanta Braves.

In another polling done by Rasmussen on the topic of baseball 30% of fans would like to see former player and current manager Joe Torre succeed the aging Bud Selig as MLB commissioner. Former home run king and baseball legend Hank Aaron is the next most popular choice at 23%. Former President George W. Bush (14%) also receives consideration. Bush was the former owner of the Texas Rangers. Senator George Mitchell who released a report in 2007 detailing his 21-month investigation of steroids in baseball is the pick of 8% of the public for the job. Lastly Hall of Fame journalist and longtime ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons receives 6% of the support from fans.

Switching gears to college basketball Friday polling from Rasmussen showed that the Duke Blue Devils were favored to win the NCAA Championship Game even before they defeated West Virginia to reach the Finals. Duke earned the confidence of 31% of the public while their opponent Butler attracted 13%. Recently ousted West Virginia came in second with 28% meanwhile and Michigan State, the other defeated Final Four team, was third with 15%. The Duke-Butler matchup does represent the most attractive final game scenario involving any of the four teams. 33% would like to see Butler, a relatively low number five seed in the tournament, come away as winners. Duke earns the support of 24% of the public while 18% were previously cheering for either West Virginia or Michigan State to win the championship.

Lastly we head to ESPN.com and check out some fan polling on the subject of the recent Donovan McNabb trade from the Eagles to their division rival Washington Redskins.

Over 53,000 votes were cast as of earlier today on the question of who is the best team in the NFC East. Even with the McNabb acquisition by Washington a large plurality (46%) believes the Dallas Cowboys, last season’s division champions, are still the team to beat. The Redskins who finished in last place in 2009 have spring boarded into second position at 24%. The New York Giants are in third place meanwhile attracting 17% of the vote with the Eagles lingering in last at 13% despite tying the Cowboys with eleven-wins last season. The Redskins were the most popular choice in the states of Maryland, Virginia and Wyoming as well as Washington D.C. The Cowboys meanwhile were the top choice in every other state including Pennsylvania where, not surprisingly, the Eagles did their personal best attracting 33% of the early predictions.

In other polling a whopping 80% of the sports public on ESPN thinks the Eagles will come to regret their decision to trade McNabb to a division rival. There was no question that asked whether the Eagles would regret trading McNabb in general as it appeared before the weekend that the out of conference Oakland Raiders were the front runners to obtain the veteran quarterback. Personally McNabb is viewed as a borderline Hall of Fame QB by most. 39% believe him to be good enough for induction to Canton already but 43% thinks he needs to make at least one more Super Bowl appearance to solidify his position as an all-time great. Just 19% don’t consider him Hall worthy either way.

Kevin Kolb will take over the reigns as the Eagles starting QB heading into the 2010 season. Kolb has already had periodic success playing in place of an injured McNabb in the past but much of the sports world remains skeptical as to whether the Eagles can continue to have success under his guidance. Envisioning the rest of his career in Philadelphia 39% of the public actually believes Kolb will never be able to lead the Eagles back to the postseason. 37% think he more or less will match McNabb’s recent production as having “minor postseason successes”. Just one in four (25%) think the Eagles will eventually reach the conference championship or Super Bowl again so long as the new QB Kolb is at the helm.

PHOTO CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS / SHARON ELLMAN