How Did You Feel About the 2018 Season?

by
November 6, 2018

It’s Election Day in the United States! If you haven’t yet voted, and if you still have the chance, I encourage you to go vote for whatever you’re going to vote for. If you’re already done, or if you’re standing in line waiting, or whatever — today’s a day that puts a lot of Americans in a voting mood. And as long as you’re in the mood to be voting, I’ve got more voting for you to do down below. Some voting with, shall we say, far lesser stakes.

We’re at the point where just about everyone is ready to turn the page and focus on the offseason ahead. The playoffs ended last week, and this is the week of the general-manager meetings in California. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some movement pretty soon. Some transactions of real consequence. I’ve been told to prepare for a crazy market, and it could all get underway at a moment’s notice. So before all that starts up, and while the 2018 season is still fresh in your collective minds, I want to continue what’s become an annual polling project. The convenient thing about this being an annual polling project is that I can just copy and paste the text below from last time!

This is a post with 30 polls, one for each team. Ideally I’d like you to only vote in the poll or polls corresponding to your favorite team(s). Some of you might be fans of baseball more than you’re fans of one team in particular, and in that case, either don’t vote at all, or vote for the team you think you care about the most. It’s up to you. It’s all up to you. For each team, I’ve asked a simple question. How was your experience being a fan of the given team this season? There’s no wrong answer, and your feeling is personal to you. But if you’d like to share it, please do so. This shouldn’t take much in the way of mental gymnastics. Were you happy? Were you disappointed? How disappointed were you? Do you love watching every game, no matter the score and no matter the standings? Just how much did you get out of your investment? To what extent were you invested in the first place?

It’s easy, and I appreciate your participation, in advance. I’ll review the results later this week. In the past, I’ve written summary blurbs for each team, but I realized those blurbs might bias the responses, so now I’ve quit. Also, I’m lazy (Editor’s note: still true in 2018). Anyhow, all the polls are below. Hopefully the anchor text works to send you to your team directly! Thank you again for making these poll posts possible.

Angels
Astros
Athletics
Blue Jays
Braves
Brewers
Cardinals
Cubs
Diamondbacks
Dodgers
Giants
Indians
Mariners
Marlins
Mets
Nationals
Orioles
Padres
Phillies
Pirates
Rangers
Rays
Red Sox
Reds
Rockies
Royals
Tigers
Twins
White Sox
Yankees

=====

Angels

Astros

Athletics

Blue Jays

Braves

Brewers

Cardinals

Cubs

Diamondbacks

Dodgers

Giants

Indians

Mariners

Marlins

Mets

Nationals

Orioles

Padres

Phillies

Pirates

Rangers

Rays

Red Sox

Reds

Rockies

Royals

Tigers

Twins

White Sox

Yankees





 

Jeff made Lookout Landing a thing, but he does not still write there about the Mariners. He does write here, sometimes about the Mariners, but usually not.

62 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
sadtrombonemember
5 years ago

My favorite parts of these polls are looking at the team that won the World Series and seeing the fools who pick something other than “very good experience.” What more do you want?

27
Jeff Sullivanmember
5 years ago
Reply to  sadtrombone

There are trolls in every poll. Sometimes enough of them to elect a president!

68
David
5 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Sullivan

Baseball website?

-41
hookworm86
5 years ago
Reply to  David

Get over yourself

0
tramps like us
5 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Sullivan

LOL….I agree, and yet whenever ANYONE but Jeff Sullivan turns this conversation to a political one they get downvoted (as they should). We should ALL keep politics outta here. Even Jeff. My take. One comment begets another. Then another. Then…..

-8
Shirtless George Brett
5 years ago
Reply to  tramps like us

He wasnt turning the conversation political, he was making a joke. Unclench.

5
tramps like us
5 years ago
Reply to  Shirtless George Brett

I saw it as a joke, too. A political joke. Lots of people ain’t got a sense of humor right now, that’s all I’m sayin’.. Myself, I was giggling immediately.

0
majnun
5 years ago
Reply to  tramps like us

piss off

-4
Roger21
5 years ago
Reply to  sadtrombone

Given the Red Sox payroll and recent success, there might actually be some fans who long for the days when the team was the much-beloved scrappy underdog, and not the much-reviled, payroll-laden behemoth.

But I agree with Jeff, too: trolls

15
Paul-SF
5 years ago
Reply to  Roger21

As a fan old enough to remember the bad old days of the 1990s, when John Harrington and company were trying to convince Boston that the Red Sox were a small-market franchise, let me assure you: I do not in any way pine for the days of the scrappy underdogs. Winning 119 games (and a World Series) while losing 57 makes for a very, very, very good year, whether they spent $100,000 or $1 billion to do it.

12
dl80
5 years ago
Reply to  Roger21

As a transplant who lived there before (and after) 2004, there is definitely a cultural connection that was lost after “the Curse” (obligatory eyeroll) was broken. That sort of scrappy, bitter defensiveness was gone. To many outsiders (and some insiders), that’s probably a good thing. But it’s definitely different.

And it was replaced with a sort of gilded entitlement that was never there before. That, plus the fact that the Red Sox have now completely copied the roadmap of the Evil Empire (hire random free agents at any cost) means it doesn’t have the same feel.

I wonder if Chicago is similar now?

2
Roger McDowell Hot Foot
5 years ago
Reply to  sadtrombone

Winning can be disorienting! Maybe they value the comfort of predictability. Or maybe they prefer tickets to stay cheap?

5
scooter262
5 years ago
Reply to  Roger McDowell Hot Foot

Stay cheap? Have you been to Fenway this century? Rich Bostonians need to decide on whether to buy a summer home or get season tickets to the Red Sox.

4
Roger McDowell Hot Foot
5 years ago
Reply to  scooter262

I wasn’t talking about the Sox specifically, but it’s also not a coincidence that this happens during an era when the Sox have been a pretty damn good team for a pretty long time. I’m just saying, if there actually is a fan out there whose personal first priority is $1 seats (I am completely agnostic on the existence of such a fan), they’ll vote that way in the poll without any “trolling” involved.

0
Kevbot034
5 years ago
Reply to  sadtrombone

Gotta be fans of other teams voting for every team or something, and angry Sox won championship?

2
Jaack
5 years ago
Reply to  sadtrombone

Not baseball, but I had an acquaintance who was a Seahawks fan. When the Seahawks won the superbowl he was extremely angry because it meant they would commit to a ‘failed coach and quarterback.’ There are always idiots out there who have to be contrarian.

12
asb123
5 years ago
Reply to  Jaack

That’s an astonishingly bad take. That’s a bad take even if you take out the “we just won the Super Bowl” part.

2
CCSAGE
5 years ago
Reply to  sadtrombone

I guess I’m a contrarian (or a troll) for being an Angels fan and having a good fan experience (voted that way along with the other 3% of us). The pleasure of watching Mike Trout for 120 games made it all worth it. Throw in a little Sho-time, some young arms finding success, a milestone for Pujols…while ignoring the actual results made it a good season.

15
Doug Lampertmember
5 years ago
Reply to  CCSAGE

Yes, you can easily enjoy a losing season, there are a lot of good moments in even a losing baseball season, 162 games will do that. But the Red Sox just won the most games in team history in the regular season, and then went 11-3 in the post season to win the series, and yet over 8% of people who claim to be fans of the team claim to have had a “Very Bad Experience”.

If you can’t enjoy your team winning, why are you following the sport? Are you that disappointed that they didn’t win it at Fenway or go to a game seven?

3
Shirtless George Brett
5 years ago
Reply to  CCSAGE

I can totally see that. The Royals were horrendous but I largely expected them to be. I also liked some of the moves they made and their draft this year. Mondesi finally having a mini breakout was satisfying as well as was Seuly Mattias going all Canseco on A Ball. So even though the Royals were historically bad my experience was pretty decent.

I guess it really depends on how much you live and die by W-L record.

2
MuddyChicken
5 years ago
Reply to  sadtrombone

While I did vote for “very good experience”, I did find the season boring at times because they were running away with the division. A bit more tension, also in the league overall, could have been more exciting.

3
scooter262
5 years ago
Reply to  sadtrombone

Thought the same. My friends and family would describe me as a grumpy person overall, but Jeez, how could you not love this season as a Red Sox Fan? It was just about perfect. The stretch in early August where we beat the shit out of the Yankees while sweeping them, on its own made it a great season. And then beating them in the playoffs: sweet!

2