Most Loyal Fan Bases in MLB

Key Insights

• The St. Louis Cardinals rank as the most loyalty-adjusted fan base in MLB by a fan-made Reddit analysis comparing attendance to winning %age, with the unusual finding that Cardinals fans actually attend more games when the team is bad than when it's good
• The Boston Red Sox rank second in the same attendance-elasticity analysis, combining with their PennStakes index score to make them one of only two teams appearing at the top of both methodologies
• The Los Angeles Dodgers rank number one in the PennStakes loyalty index, which uses average home and away attendance, social following, and team record from 2022 to 2024

The PennStakes Index Top Ten

PennStakes.com built a loyalty index ahead of the 2025 MLB season using average home attendance, away attendance, social following, and team record across 2022 to 2024. The lower the score, the higher the loyalty ranking. The logic is straightforward: fans who keep showing up and following despite inconsistent success are demonstrating loyalty rather than results-chasing.

The top ten in order:

• Los Angeles Dodgers: 4.64
• New York Yankees: 5.67
• Philadelphia Phillies: 12.56
• Chicago Cubs: 13.49
• Atlanta Braves: 21.60
• San Francisco Giants: 23.49
• Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox: tied at 33.49
• Toronto Blue Jays: 33.52
• St. Louis Cardinals: 34.51

The Dodgers lead with consistently high attendance at Dodger Stadium combined with a national following that sustains strong away-game presence across the country. The Yankees are second with road crowds that regularly feel like home games. The Phillies and Cubs both crack the top five, with the Phillies specifically noted for maintaining engagement and attendance during stretches when the team wasn't winning titles.

The Attendance-Elasticity Analysis

Beyond the PennStakes index, a fan-made analysis on r/baseball took a different and arguably more revealing approach. It compared attendance against winning %age over multiple years to isolate which fan bases keep showing up even when the team is actively bad.

St. Louis Cardinals

The finding for St. Louis is genuinely surprising: Cardinals fans show up more when the team is bad than when it's good, producing a slightly negative slope in the attendance-versus-winning-%age comparison. The analysis labels them BFIB, Best Fans in Baseball, not as a compliment exactly but as a data observation. A fan base that attends more when losing than when winning has essentially removed performance from the equation entirely, which is the most extreme version of unconditional loyalty the data can demonstrate.

Boston Red Sox

A clear second in the same analysis, combining strong attendance maintenance during losing stretches with a history of the kind of emotional investment that survived 86 years of championship drought before the 2004 World Series win. The Red Sox appear at or near the top of both the PennStakes index and the elasticity analysis, which makes them the most consistently supported finding across both methodologies.

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The Regional Die-Hards

The attendance-elasticity analysis extends to a top 15 that includes several smaller market teams worth acknowledging. In the averaged placement across one, two, and three year time spans, the loyalty table includes St. Louis, Boston, the Florida Marlins, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Chicago Cubs, Yankees, Braves, and Reds in the upper portion.

The presence of Tampa Bay and Minnesota in this tier is worth noting specifically. Both are small-market teams with significant attendance challenges who maintain enough consistent engagement to rank among the most loyalty-adjusted fan bases in the sport. The Brewers, Pirates, and Reds appear in the broader top 15 as regional die-hards who show up for franchises that rarely give them championship reasons to.

The Specific Cases Worth Knowing

A few teams whose loyalty stories go beyond the aggregate numbers.

Philadelphia Phillies

The PennStakes index has them third overall, and a Philadelphia-focused breakdown of the same data frames the Phillies as a top-three most loyal fan base by these metrics. Citizens Bank Park fills consistently, the fan base travels well for away games, and the energy during meaningful games produces one of the better playoff atmospheres in baseball. The Phillies fan base is underrated in national loyalty conversations relative to what the data supports.

Chicago Cubs

Fourth in the PennStakes index with a fan base that maintained significant engagement through extended championship droughts before 2016 and through the post-championship rebuild that followed. Wrigley Field's consistent sellout rates reflect both the stadium experience and the depth of the fan base that shows up regardless of where the Cubs are in the standings.

Toronto Blue Jays

Ninth in the PennStakes index and worth mentioning as the only Canadian team on the list, maintaining strong attendance and social following in a market where hockey is the dominant sports institution and baseball competes for attention and ticket revenue year-round.

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The Most Defensible MLB Loyalty List

Combining both methodologies, the fan bases with the strongest multi-source support for genuine loyalty:

• Cardinals: Most loyal by attendance-elasticity analysis, top ten in PennStakes index
• Red Sox: Second in elasticity, tied seventh in PennStakes index
• Dodgers: Number one in PennStakes index, national following sustained through winning and roster transitions
• Yankees: Second in PennStakes index, road crowds that regularly outnumber home fans at opposing stadiums
• Cubs: Fourth in PennStakes index, sustained engagement through multiple championship droughts
• Phillies: Third in PennStakes index, underrated in national loyalty conversations
• Braves: Fifth in PennStakes index, strong regional fan base with recent championship momentum
• Giants: Sixth in PennStakes index, consistent regional engagement through competitive and non-competitive years

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FAQ

What is the most loyal fan base in MLB?

The St. Louis Cardinals by the attendance-elasticity methodology, which finds Cardinals fans attend more games when the team is losing than when it's winning. The Los Angeles Dodgers lead the PennStakes index. Both have legitimate claims depending on which measure of loyalty matters most to you.

Why do the Cardinals rank so high given their recent lack of championships?

Because the loyalty analysis is specifically designed to isolate attendance behavior from championship results. Cardinals fans showing up more during losing seasons than winning ones removes performance entirely from the equation. That's what makes the finding unusual and what puts St. Louis at the top of the most demanding methodology.

Are the Dodgers fans loyal or just successful?

The PennStakes methodology accounts for team record in its calculation, so sustained high attendance and following across years when the Dodgers weren't winning the World Series contributes to their number one ranking. Their road presence and national following also suggest a fan base that extends beyond pure results-chasing.

Why do the Phillies rank higher than most people expect?

Because the data supports it and the national narrative hasn't caught up. Third in the PennStakes index, consistent arena attendance, and strong playoff atmosphere are measurable facts that put Philadelphia in the top three by these metrics regardless of how the fan base is characterized in broader sports conversations.

What is the attendance-elasticity analysis measuring exactly?

It compares each team's attendance figures to their winning %age over multiple seasons to see how much attendance changes as performance changes. Fan bases whose attendance barely drops when winning %age drops are considered more loyalty-adjusted. Cardinals and Red Sox showed the flattest curves, meaning their fans' behavior is least dependent on results.

MLB loyalty is the hardest test in North American sports because 162 games gives you the most opportunities to stop showing up. The fan bases on this list passed that test by multiple measures. The Cardinals do it most dramatically. The Red Sox do it most consistently. Everyone else on the list does it well enough to deserve the recognition.