But, one thing remains the same when it comes to baseball. Among those who follow the sport, the New York Yankees again win the honor of “America’s Favorite“, as they have each year since 2003. In the second spot on the list are their long time arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, followed by the Atlanta Braves at number three; both of these teams’ positions are unchanged from last year.

Rounding out the top five are the Philadelphia Phillies at number four, rising from 7th place last year, and the Chicago Cubs, who may not win pennants, but do win a lot of hearts.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,227 adults surveyed online between June 14 and 21, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

Looking at the bottom half of the top ten favorite baseball teams, at number six are the New York Mets, up from number 11 last year; the San Francisco Giants (#7, up from #9); the Los Angeles Dodgers (#8, down from a tie at #4); the Minnesota Twins (#9, up from #13); and the St. Louis Cardinals (#10, down from #6).

Three teams have made large moves on this year’s list. Moving up ten spots, from #29 last year to #19 this year, are the Kansas City Royals. Also making a large move upwards are the Cleveland Indians who went up 8 spots, from a tie for #25 to #17. In the opposite direction, the Houston Astros dropped 9 spots, moving from #19 to #28.

Winning it all in October

Looking ahead to the end of the season, one-third of Americans who follow baseball (34%) are expecting a repeat and think the New York Yankees are going to win the World Series. One in ten believe the Boston Red Sox (10%) and the Tampa Bay Rays (9%) will win, while 7% say it will be the St. Louis Cardinals and 6% each say it will be the Philadelphia Phillies or the Atlanta Braves. Each team also evidently has die-hard fans, as each of the 30 teams has someone who believes they will win it all.

Following baseball

Over one-third of Americans (36%) say they follow Major League Baseball, a number that is down from last year when 41% said they followed baseball and 40% said so in 2008. Looking at who follows baseball, men are more likely to do so than women (46% versus 27%). Also African Americans are more likely to be followers of the sport, compared to both Whites and Hispanics (41% versus 36% and 34%). There is also a regional divide, as almost half of Easterners (48%) say they follow baseball, compared to one-third of Westerners (34%) and 29% of Southerners.

So what?

Major League Baseball has had lots of ups and downs over the past few decades. For every strike-shortened season, there is Cal Ripken breaking records. For every steroid scandal, there is the story of a young pitcher with an arm not seen in decades. And, through it all, fans mostly stay loyal, following their favorite teams through thick and thin, cursed goats and all. When the weather gets hot and steamy outside, staying inside to watch a game makes many a baseball fan not mind the heat waves quite so much.

Tickets.com, a leading global provider of integrated ticketing solutions, announced that it has signed a multi-year contract extension with Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox. With the regular season underway, the seven-time World Series Champions head into 2009 with enhanced ticketing functionality for their fans and their organization. The renewal encompasses Tickets.com products including ProVenueMobile(TM), Tickets@Phone(R), Primary Ticket Auctions, and Automated Kiosks.

“We’re proud of our company’s long association with the Red Sox,” said Larry Witherspoon, chief executive officer, Tickets.com. “I’m pleased that we have the opportunity to serve the club with website mobilization and other upgrades this year. Our goal is to help the franchise score wins in brand differentiation, fanbase expansion, and customer service so that they can concentrate all their efforts on playing a successful season.”

The Red Sox will go live with ProVenueMobile this season, making them the third MLB franchise on the Tickets.com client roster to implement the product after the Oakland A’s and Milwaukee Brewers. ProVenueMobile enables full-circle, branded ticket transactions to be made 24/7 from any mobile phone model directly through the client’s mobilized website. To further maximize the potential of ProVenueMobile, the Boston Red Sox will simultaneously adopt the proprietary Tickets@Phone technology from Tickets.com into its suite of ticketing solutions. Tickets@Phone functionality allows customers to digitally receive unique bar-coded tickets on their mobile phone for a 100% mobile, secure, paperless–and green–ticket buying experience.

Other consumer friendly additions to the Boston Red Sox ticketing service agreement include enhanced functionality through Tickets.com technology via Automated Kiosks and Primary Ticket Auctions for select games. Both features increase the avenues through which patrons can acquire tickets. Automated Kiosks provide a convenient, easy way to get tickets without waiting in long box office lines; Auctions can serve as a fair means to acquire premium seats to key sold-out games. Other MLB teams employing Primary Auctions include the A’s, the Cubs, the Giants and the Tigers.

“Extending our relationship with Tickets.com gives me total confidence that we will be providing state-of-the-art functionality for our fans,” said Mike Dee, chief operating officer, Boston Red Sox. “With technology like ProVenueMobile, game attendees will have more options and ease of use than ever before.”

Source: Tickets.com