Cleveland Indians Are Not Ohio's Most Popular Baseball Team

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians are not Ohio's most popular baseball team, according to research from ticket company SeatGeek. That honor falls instead to in-state rival the Cincinnati Reds.

Baseball fandom in Ohio is complicated. There are bases of supporters for five different teams: the Indians, the Reds, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Detroit Tigers, and oddly enough the Chicago Cubs. Tribe fans rule in approximately 20 Ohio counties (and one county in Pennsylvania, Mercer).

Compare that to the Reds: Cincinnati fans have a stronger foothold in southern and central Ohio. Reds tickets were the most popular baseball ticket in 47 Ohio counties.

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Where are all the other fandoms based? Pirates fans are amassed along the Pennsylvania border, Tigers fans are based near the Michigan border (in the Toledo area), and there is a streak of Cubs fans along Ohio's western border.

A Seat Geek representative told Patch that Ohio is the second most divided baseball fandom in the nation, behind only Pennsylvania (which has supporters for seven different baseball teams).

Using its data SeatGeek created a map of baseball fandoms across the U.S. Check out how things break down below.

The ticket company also created an interactive map showing where all baseball fandoms are based. Check it out on their website.