The Best Baseball City in America Is Right Here in New York State
One city in New York State beat out over 330 competitors to claim the title of America's top baseball city.
With the World Series underway between the Arizona Diamondback and the Texas Rangers, WalletHub wanted to know which city is the best destination for baseball lovers.
New York Claims #1
To determine the best places to be a fan of America’s third most followed sport, WalletHub compared 334 U.S. cities with at least one college or professional baseball team across 31 key metrics.
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The data that measured "baseball fan-friendliness" ranged from performance level of teams to average ticket price to stadium accessibility.
Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for baseball fans. For our sample, we chose cities with at least one Major League Baseball (MLB), Minor League Baseball (MiLB) or college baseball (NCAA) team.
While the Los Angeles Dodgers secured the best performance level and Phoenix, Arizona, earned the award for having the lowest average season ticket price for MLB games - with an eye-catching average of $22.12 per ticket - New York dominated in virtually every category.
Before we arrive at the #1 city, here's how other metro areas in the Empire State performed in the new roundup.
Ithaca Was the Worst City in NY for Baseball
Two cities in New York actually made the bottom 10 on the WalletHub list - with Ithaca coming in 329th place out of 330 competitors, which means it is the 6th worst city in the nation for baseball fans.
Only four places up from Ithaca was Poughkeepsie, in 325th place, making it the 10th worst city overall.
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The state's capital of Albany also performed poorly by showing up on the list in 317th place.
New Rochelle bowed at 260th place while Syracuse was close behind in 256th place.
Stony Brook followed and showed up at spot 252. Here's how other NY metro areas performed:
Allegany - 210 Hempstead - 183 Lewiston - 180 Buffalo - 134 Rochester - 125 Fishkill - 120 West Point - 74 Binghamton - 40 (The city was ranked third best overall for best small city!)
Now with that out of the way, it should come as no surprise that the #1 city for baseball fans is...
New York City!
WalletHub gave the Big Apple an overall score of 57.49 for MLB fan-friendliness. The city also was named the 11th best hub for NCAA fans.
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As for how WalletHub determined this, they pulled data from ESPN, MLB Advanced Media, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the NCAA and more.
Do you agree NYC is the best place for baseball fans, or do you think another city deserved the high honors?
Check out the infographic below to see where the best and worst places for baseball fans are.
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