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MLB lockouts means all different types of baseball content being produced. This no transaction phase is worse than 2020 lockdowns without baseball in my opinion.
Baseball Reference dropped a chart that showed which MLB players were the most popular per state this past year. According to the results, Ohtani is the most popular player in 50% of the United States. Stephen A must be really pissed now, huh?
The unanimous 2021 MVP was deservingly the talk of the town. The two-way player was a menace on both sides of the ball. On offense, he hit an impressive .257/.372/.592 line, clobbering 46 homers, 26 doubles, eight triples, 100 RBIs, 103 runs and 26 stolen bases in 155 games. As a pitcher, he made 23 starts and went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA and 156 strikeouts in 130 1/3 innings.
25 states looked up the MVP the most, but what's most wild about this stat, is that Ohtani is so popular, there's states with actual teams that like him more than their own players. (Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Texas, and Virginia). The past six World Series winners were in those states (Braves, Dodgers, Nationals, Red Sox, Astros, and Cubs), and Ohtani has topped players like Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Scherzer, and Kris Bryant.
Looking at the rest of the map, there are some head scratching ones for sure. Adalberto Mondesi, the Royals World Series Champ, is the most popular player in Mississippi. Why? No idea, there is actually zero connection. Same with Miguel Cabrera to New Mexico and Christian Yellich with Alaska.
Barry Bonds holds down the fort in North Dakota while one of the best pitchers in baseball, Jacob deGrom, was quite popular in South Dakota, which doesn't make any sense at all.
This was a nice little map to past the time, but I am so ready for baseball to return and the stove to heat up once again. Manfred, we got a status update on this?