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Baltimore Orioles
Overall: 15
Title track: 55
Ownership: 68
Coaching: 3
Players: 26
Fan relations: 36
Affordability: 14
Stadium experience: 7
Bang for the buck: 15
Change from last year: +8
How 'bout 'dem O's, hon? After peaking last year with their highest overall number in Ultimate Standings history, the Birds soared even higher this time around. They cracked our top 20 for the first time and outranked every MLB team that didn't win a World Series last year or have a name that rhymes with Schmexas Schmangers.
What's good
Britton Gate notwithstanding (see: wild-card game), B'more loves it some Buck Showalter (ranked third overall and best in MLB). After he led a left-for-dead squad to the postseason, the 60-year-old skipper -- whose quick wit, Southern drawl and stream-of-consciousness chatter have turned his postgame pressers into must-see TV -- is a favorite to win his fourth Manager of the Year award, which would tie Hall of Famers Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa for most ever. Despite hosting just 26,819 fans per game (among playoff teams, only Cleveland drew worse), Camden Yards (seventh overall in stadium experience) gets mad love, which confirms that whatever attendance issues the O's had this year, the park wasn't the problem.
What's bad
It's hard to find fault with an organization that's so on the Ultimate up-and-up, but hey, proprietor Peter Angelos is always a candidate. Although he got better marks (ownership is up 24 spots) for dropping more than $200 million in the offseason to retain Chris Davis, Darren O'Day and Matt Wieters, he's still in the bottom half of his peer group because he taxed fans for it (game-day cost is up 13.3 percent, third highest in MLB), told them about it too late (releasing season-ticket prices in February?) and still refuses to pay for the one thing that matters most (pitching).
What's new
The Orioles' fan relations ranking jumped 12 spots this year, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the stadium. During a crucial September series against the division rival Red Sox, Camden Yards averaged fewer than 22,000 fans per game, driving home the reality that folks just aren't Bird watching like they used to -- at least not in person. As for TV, that's a different story. According to Forbes, the O's ratings ranked fourth in MLB and were up 36 percent over the 2015 season. Clearly, fans are feeling their fine-feathered club (No. 15 overall and fourth in MLB). Now, the Orioles need to figure out how to get them to feel firsthand.
Next: St. Louis Cardinals | Full rankings