The Most Annoying Baseball Fans in 2023

From the blast of the “Charge” fanfare to the excitement of a home run, there are lots of reasons to love a good baseball game. Being part of the crowd in the stands can even be some of the fun. But not all fans of America’s favorite pastime enjoy watching games in the same way.

Baseball fans show their support for their team in a variety of ways, from wearing their team’s apparel to yelling at the umpire. It’s no surprise that fans are not all are always on their best behavior — they interfere with plays, yell at the players, and even get into brawls. But what makes an annoying baseball fan? Are fans of certain teams worse than others? To find out, we surveyed nearly 1,000 Americans to ask their opinions of MLB fan bases and see who stands out as the most annoying.

So, is your team’s fandom one of the good ones, or are they part of the problem? Read on to find out!

● The Most Annoying Fans Ranked ●

Topping our list of the most annoying baseball fans are New York Yankees fans. Our respondents also voted Yankees fans as the worst behaved and most arrogant of all teams’ fans, making them the worst fan base out of the whole MLB.

What people consider annoying fan behavior may differ from one person to the next, but our respondents agreed that these teams have the most annoying fans. Although the New York Yankees take the #1 spot, both teams from New York as well as Chicago make our top 10 list for the most annoying fans:

1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Houston Astros
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
5. Philadelphia Phillies
6. Chicago Cubs
7. St. Louis Cardinals
8. Atlanta Braves
9. New York Mets
10. Chicago White Sox

In case you think annoying behavior is too relative to judge, consider that these same 10 teams also have the worst behaved fans according to our respondents. They just rank in a slightly different order. The top 10 teams with the worst behaved fan bases are:

1. New York Yankees
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. Boston Red Sox
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
5. Houston Astros
6. Chicago Cubs
7. New York Mets
8. Chicago White Sox
9. Atlanta Braves
10. St. Louis Cardinals

With names like “diamondbacks” and “pirates” you might expect some fan bases to be predisposed to annoying behavior. However, some of these come in on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Our respondents also ranked which teams have the least annoying fans, and the least annoying fan base belongs to the Seattle Mariners — you shouldn’t be surprised to see “angels” in the top 10 as well.

The top 10 teams with the least annoying fans are:

1. Seattle Mariners
2. Kansas City Royals
3. Baltimore Orioles
4. Colorado Rockies
5. Toronto Blue Jays
6. Minnesota Twins
7. Los Angeles Angels
8. Tampa Bay Rays
9. Arizona Diamondbacks
10. Pittsburgh Pirates

It may come as no surprise that some of the same fans who cause the least annoyance are topping our best behaved list, too. The Seattle Mariners top this list as well, and other teams that share both lists are the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Baltimore Orioles, the Colorado Rockies, and the Kansas City Royals.

Here are the top 10 teams with the best behaved fan bases:

1. Seattle Mariners
2. Minnesota Twins
3. Milwaukee Brewers
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Arizona Diamondbacks
6. Washington Nationals
7. San Diego Padres
8. Kansas City Royals
9. Colorado Rockies
10. Cleveland Guardians

Although the Yankees top our list as the team with the most arrogant fan base in the MLB, they have plenty of company. When it comes to arrogance, our respondents found a lot of fans guilty of that attitude. Here’s our top 10 list for baseball teams with the most arrogant fans — New Yorkers take two spots!

1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Houston Astros
5. Chicago Cubs
6. Philadelphia Phillies
7. Atlanta Braves
8. St. Louis Cardinals
9. New York Mets
10. Chicago White Sox

But the fans weren’t the only ones our survey covered. According to our respondents, players and managers can be just as bad as the fans.

Some players and managers, like our #1 most annoying player, Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros, are from the teams that topped our most annoying list. But others, like our #1 most annoying manager, Tony La Russa of the Chicago White Sox, are from completely different teams, proving that one bad apple doesn’t always spoil the bunch.

Here are the top 5 most annoying players in baseball, according to our survey:

1. Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros
2. Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies
3. Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres
4. Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees
5. Carlos Correa of the Minnesota Twins

And here are the top 5 most annoying team managers:

1. Tony La Russa of the Chicago White Sox
2. Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees
3. Alex Cora of the Boston Red Sox
4. Dusty Baker of the Houston Astros
5. Joe Girardi of the Philadelphia Phillies

You might think the typical baseball fan would be more critical of other teams’ fans than their own, but, as far as our survey is concerned, nobody’s safe. Here are the most annoying things our respondents said their own teams’ fans do: 

1. Being a fairweather/bandwagon fan
2. Making excuses
3. Having bad sportsmanship
4. Being stuck in the glory days
5. Getting in fights at games (with fans of other teams)
6. Drinking too much
7. Saying “we” when referring to the team
8. Using inappropriate language
9. Complaining about umpires
10. Not cheering enough

When it comes to new rule changes in 2023, 62% said they expect that will increase fan complaining, and the New York Yankees is the #1 pick for the team whose fans will complain about them the most. Here are the other top complainers:

1. New York Yankees
2. Houston Astros
3. Boston Red Sox
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
5. Philadelphia Phillies
6. New York Mets
7. Chicago Cubs
8. Atlanta Braves
9. Chicago White Sox
10. St. Louis Cardinals

So, the next time you’re thinking about getting rowdy or a bit too loud at a game, you might want to reconsider. As fun as it may feel to let loose in the moment, you never know if you’re annoying the people around you.