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San Francisco Giants
Overall: 18
Title track: T6
Ownership: 5
Coaching: 8
Players: 3
Fan relations: 4
Affordability: 85
Stadium experience: 2
Bang for the buck: 96
Change from last year: +8
It's good to be Giant. Everything fans hate on the other side of the bay is up on the foggy side: Ownership, players and the stadium are top notch, and the team finds itself playing meaningful baseball into September practically every year.
What's good
File through a breezy concourse into the best stadium in baseball, with your every need well attended to, and settle into a bayfront seat to watch the best players in baseball in any given year. That's what it's like to go to AT&T Park in San Francisco, and much of that is due to the best ownership group in baseball privately financing a great park (No. 2 overall and best in MLB) and a strong team year in and year out. Then there are the (mostly homegrown) stars -- the roster was once again voted the best in baseball -- powering the team to titles in three of the past five years.
What's bad
There's little to complain about if you're Giants fan, but all that luxury does come at a price. The seventh-most expensive ticket in baseball, the second-most expensive parking pass, the second-most expensive beer ($7.50 for 14 ounces?!) -- that's how you end up 85th in affordability and 96th in bang for the buck. Something has to give.
What's new
The first team to give its fans free Wi-Fi, the Giants also made sure to offer free fun for fans of all sizes, from small (a pint-size diamond for tee-ball and a slide for tikes) to tall (a new organic garden growing in center field and a craft beer bar attached to the park). These all serve to make sure everyone in the family is happy. From Bruce Lee Night to Star Wars bobblehead nights, the promotional schedule is jam-packed, and though the park is also packed, there's little grumbling. All that added up to an astonishing, 79-spot jump in fan relations this year, up to fourth overall, the best in baseball.
Next: Cleveland Indians | Full rankings