Favorite MLB Team in Florida? It's Not the Rays or Marlins

Nothing succeeds like success. The New York Yankees, the winningest franchise in Major League Baseball, are the favorite ball team of 20 percent of Florida fans, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Friday.

The Tampa Bay Rays are Team No. 1 for 18 percent of fans, followed by 15 percent cheering for the Miami-based Florida Marlins, 8 percent for the Boston Red Sox and 7 percent for the Atlanta Braves, the poll found.

The New York Mets win the hearts of 4 percent of Floridians, with no other team above 3 percent.

The Connecticut-based pollster found that the Yankees, who do their spring training in Tampa, are the favorite team for 29 percent of fans 18 to 34 years old.The Marlins win the love of 44 percent of fans in southeast Florida, while the Rays rule with 54 percent of fans in the Tampa Bay area and the Braves are tops with 23 percent of fans in northern Florida and the Panhandle.

Florida has only a 19-year tradition with Major League Baseball, so there is less fan interest, with the possible exception of those transplanted New Yorkers and their offspring, said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.