The city of Philadelphia feels red hot right now.
They just went to the World Series and mere months later, they are in the Super Bowl.
I can’t help but be reminded of what happened to Philly in 1980.
All of this got me thinking of which sports city has played the best to start the 2020’s.
A team can only earn points from one of those categories each season.
I also only counted finished seasons so the NHL and NBA seasons currently underway don’t count.
I made an exception for the NFL season as there is only the Super Bowl left.
The more teams you have in a city, the better you should do.
I counted the Islanders, Devils, Nets all to be in New York City.
I know the Jets and Giants technically play in New Jersey but those are obviously NYC teams as well.
I counted Anaheim and Los Angeles as the same city.
I kept San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose separate.
I also kept Green Bay and Milwaukee separate.
That left me with 51 cities.
Here they are from worst to first:
THE WORST
51.
Detroit (-5.5 points)
Poor Chris Castellani.
Detroit sports have been almost impossibly bad and all at once.
Out of the four major sports, they have finished three seasons each.
Maybe things are turning around for the Motor City?
The Lions finished last season strong and the Tigers finally have a new GM.
But I wouldn’t expect much else to optimistic about.
Detroit sports has truly been awful.
THE OTHER NEGATIVE CITIES
50.
Charlotte (-2)
(tie) 46.
Ottawa (-1.5)
(tie) 46.
Sacramento (-1.5)
(tie) 46.
San Antonio (-1.5)
(tie) 46.
San Jose (-1.5)
Other than Charlotte, these are all one sport cities.
Obviously all of those teams suck but that’s somewhat understandable when you only have one game in town.
Let’s shit on Charlotte instead.
The Hornets and the Panthers are both in total disarray.
How is Michael Jordan so bad at this?
You’d think with his star power, he’d attract great coaches and front office people around him.
It hasn’t been that way at all.
Hell, they are on their second Steve Clifford Era.
THE ZERO CITIES
(tie) 42.
Jacksonville (0)
(tie) 42.
Orlando (0)
(tie) 42.
Columbus (0)
(tie) 42.
This is what people who hate expansion warn us about.
Teams with no real history with very boring rosters that water down the playing field for everyone else.
THE UNO CLUB
(tie) 36.
New Orleans (1)
(tie) 36.
Seattle (1)
(tie) 36.
Oakland (1)
(tie) 36.
Vancouver (1)
(tie) 36.
Cleveland (1)
(tie) 36.
Oakland won’t even have a team in the entire city by the end of this decade.
That’s much worse than having four awful ones.
Out of this group, New Orleans and Cleveland appear most ready to break out.
GREATER THAN ONE BUT NOT EVEN AVERAGE
(tie) 29.
Indianapolis (1.5)
(tie) 29.
Portland (1.5)
(tie) 29.
San Diego (1.5)
(tie) 29.
Calgary (1.5)
(tie) 29.
Buffalo (1.5)
(tie) 29.
Memphis (1.5)
(tie) 29.
Green Bay (1.5)
(tie) 27.
Chicago (2)
(tie) 27.
Yet another example of me wildly overvaluing the Bills.
Plus, the Sabres have been terrible.
The real problem cities on this list are Chicago and Washington.
Chicago even has two baseball teams!
The Nationals are AWFUL and other than the Capitals, those other teams aren’t very good.
Oh, and Ovechkin is 37 years old.
OK BUT NOT GOOD
26.
Winnipeg (2.5)
(tie) 21.
Edmonton (3)
(tie) 21.
Las Vegas (3)
(tie) 21.
Minnesota (3)
(tie) 21.
Raleigh (3)
(tie) 21.
Salt Lake City (3)
20.
Phoenix (3.5)
19.
Pittsburgh (4)
(tie) 17.
Montreal (4.5)
(tie) 17.
Nashville (4.5)
Congratulation to Montreal for being the most successful one sport city.
Las Vegas and Nashville might be the even bigger winners in this list by the end of the year.
GOOD BUT NOT GREAT
16.
Cincinnati (5.5)
15.
St. Louis (6)
14.
Toronto (7)
(tie) 12.
Kansas City (7.5)
(tie) 12.
New York City (7.5)
11.
Dallas (8.5)
10.
Boston (9)
When I think best sports cities, I immediately go to my Northeast bias.
The first two cities that come to mind are NYC and Boston.
It’s embarrassing for NYC that Kansas City is tied with them.
I counted NINE team for NYC.
Kansas City only has two!
That would put them in fourth place.
THE DOUBLE DIGIT CLUB
9.
Miami (11)
(tie) 6.
Atlanta (12)
(tie) 6.
Denver (12)
(tie) 6.
San Francisco (12)
5.
Philadelphia (12.5)
4.
Houston (13.5)
3.
Milwaukee (14.5)
There’s Philadelphia!
Also if they win the Super Bowl, they’ll pass Houston and Milwaukee.
Impressive to see Houston and Milwaukee on this list.
Every city on this list has at least one competitive team to root for.
In the cases of the top five cities, they are in ring chasing mode.
THE BEST SPORTS CITIES OF THE 2020’S
2.
Los Angeles (34.5)
1.
Mix in a Super Bowl winner along with a MLB team that makes the playoffs every year?
You don’t even need a NBA team to dominate this list.
That’s how great the Lightning and Bucs have been.
It shouldn’t be a shock for LA to be this high on this list.
I am counting eight teams for them.
I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see Philadelphia pass them by soon enough.
The Dodgers will be great next year but besides them?
The L.A. sports scene is wildly overrated.
If you take out 2020, they stink.
It’ll get even worse if/when Shohei Ohtani leaves town after this season.
You suffered with the Devil Rays and the Bucs missing the playoffs for long enough.
You’ve earned this one.
