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San Francisco Giants
Overall: 26
Title track: 5
Ownership: 9
Coaching: 2
Players: 3
Fan relations: 83
Affordability: 92
Stadium experience: 1
Bang for the buck: 88
Change from last year: +6
As usual, the only thing holding back the reigning World Series champs from a top-10 ranking is that all those wins will cost you. The Giants finished in the top 10 in every on-field category, and by the way, their stadium isn't exactly a dump. But hey, when does anything come cheap in the Bay Area?
What's good
Well, just about everything. Fans of the black and orange have it pretty darn great. Their team has won three World Series in the past five years (they're fifth in title track, second best in baseball). Executive vice president Brian Sabean and general manager Bobby Evans can be counted on to spend on free agents and pursue big-ticket win-now trades during the season while still finding ways to keep enough young talent to pump out stars such as Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt and Madison Bumgarner. Whether you like beer or crab sandwiches, the selection at the park is top of the line and even includes an attached craft-brew pub that helps make this stadium the best in all of sports -- and a must-see icon in baseball.
What's bad
At $58.03 per game, a ticket plus concessions and merch at AT&T will cost you more than it does for 25 other teams in baseball (92nd overall in affordability). That number is up 5.4 percent since last year as well -- hey, championships are expensive! Only two teams have raised prices more than the Giants. To some extent, it's the real estate -- respondents voted that the Giants' concessions were too expensive, just barely cheaper than six teams in New York, two teams in Boston, two teams in Toronto and the other team in San Francisco. Those are all expensive cities. Of course, rising payroll costs and a stadium that was privately financed also have something to do with it. But, Giants fans, at least you get what you pay for.
What's new
After an -- ahem -- "down" year for Bruce Bochy, who ranked 14th in 2014, the Giants' skipper climbed all the way to No. 2 in all of sports after his third championship win (behind only Gregg Popovich). Giants fans gave their manager the highest marks in all of sports in "strong leadership from the coach." And of course, his insanely talented roster (No. 3 overall, also up four spots) doesn't hurt, especially when fans vote their players as most likable, most appreciative and most accessible in baseball. In addition, fan relations are up five spots from last year -- AT&T, among its many attributes, was one of the first parks to offer free Wi-Fi, helping explain the Giants' tops-in-MLB scores in engaging fans in social media, fan-friendly environments and making it easy to connect with the team online.
Next: Los Angeles Angels | Full rankings