5 Best Teams to Play for

If you ever played baseball competitively, you surely have dreamed about playing for your hometown team. I took a small survey of close friends and family and compiled a list of what, I think, are the top five teams to play for in todays game based on everything I can think of: player development, fan base, stadium quality, pay, competitiveness, history, and everything in-between. 15 teams received votes but we only have room for five.

Honorable mentions: Mariners(2), Blue Jays(2), Giants(2), Padres(2)

Atlanta Braves (8)

The only team receiving a vote from every participant is the Atlanta Braves and for obvious reasons. The franchise is historic almost constantly being a playoff team with an electric fan base, and a top of the line new stadium in a great part of Metro-Atlanta. Atlanta has everything you could want as a professional. Want to play in front sell-out crowd every single day? They got you. Want to be a part of a historic franchise with a winning culture? Yea, ATL has that too. They constantly have young rookies come up making an impact showing that they draft and develop well. The players deemed worthy get great and smart contracts. Lately they have been giving their young guys multi-year deals to not only lock them up for a while but also to avoid the headache that is arbitration. It's a win-win for the player and the organization and the Braves have stocked up on talent for years. Importantly, Atlanta has built a culture around the new stadium just outside of downtown. The stadium and surrounding businesses are a small city bringing a great vibe to a great fan base.

St. Louis Cardinals (6)

Is this really a surprise? The Cardinals have to be here. They are arguably the biggest baseball town in the country largely because of how well this organization is run. Starting with the competativeness. There's no one better. The last time the Cards ended a season with a losing record was back in 2007 when they finished 78-84. Before that it was 1999. This team flat out knows how to win. They have the second most World Series Championships in all of baseball and because of that, their fan base is insane. They sell out every day. Their fans are as hard core and loyal as any other system in the entire country. St Louis also breeds home grown talent. Every year it seems they have 2-3 players come up from the farm system and make an impact right away. They pay the players that are worth it and because of how well everything is run, most players are more than happy to ink their name on the contract. I've never had the opportunity to go to Busch Stadium, but everyone I know that has been has loved the experience!

Los Angeles Dodgers (5)

Another team that should come as no surprise. The Dodgers are easily the best team in baseball for the last decade. The city of Angels has everything you could want starting with an incredible amount of home grown talent. Yearly, the Dodgers have some of the top prospects in all of baseball. Sometimes the Dodgers sell the prospects for MLB ready talent which has, largely, been successful. On the other hand, there are plenty of guys who are developed in-house who make a splash in the league. LA always seems to make the right move. Even more important for these players, they get paid! There is no shortage of money to offer and players routinely sign high end free agent deals and extensions. There is a loyal fan base include some of the LA celebrities making it enticing to show up to the stadium. It’s sometimes more of a social event than a baseball game. Oh, and the weather out there doesn’t hurt, either. The stadium could use some updates, but what it lacks in infrastructure it more than makes up with talent and overall game/player experience.

Tampa Bay Rays (4)

I'm going to be completely honest here. I was shocked to see the Rays make this list. They don't have the successful history as they are one of the youngest teams in baseball. The fan base is virtually non-existent, the stadium is outdated and ownership is constantly seeking new locations (including Montreal), and there is no clear direction for the organizations future. Also, and I cannot emphasize this enough, the Rays do not spend money!!

Compared to the three teams above, it makes no sense to include the Rays here. However, after taking a step back and trying to understand it, I did. The Rays have 3 things working wonderfully in their favor.

The first and biggest reason is player development. Want to become the best version of you as a baseball player? Ink a contract with the Rays. There is no question the Rays are the kings of development. Year in and year out they have rookies come up and make immediate impacts with a constant presence on the top 100 prospect list.  They also always seem to sign veteran players who have been on a downward trend and milk every last ounce of good baseball out of them. It's not just a coincidence, they are the modern day Money Ball and proof that money isn’t the only thing that gets wins.

The second thing; a winning culture. Laugh all you want, I know they have never won a World Series, but they are the youngest franchise in baseball. Sure, they had a slow start, but you can't argue with what they have done over the past decade consistently spending little to nothing. Since 2010 Tampa has the 4th most wins in all of baseball. The only teams with more are the Dodgers, Yankees, and Cardinals. Each of which has a payroll triple that of the Rays.

The final aspect, which is minor, is the fact that Florida has no state income tax. So the players keep a bit more money in their pocket than most other teams would.

Houston Astros (3)

Getting the five spot by one vote is the Astros. They fit in between the first 3 teams (Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers) and the Rays. I say that because Houston doesn’t have a rich history of winning like the first three teams, but they do have the recent domination winning two World Series in the last six years while maintaining a pretty ordinary payroll and making smart FA singings. The Astros develop players very well always having homegrown talent and/or recognizing talent in other organizations to trade for them. Minute Maid Park is a stadium I badly want to visit but haven't had the chance yet so I can't speak to it personally, but similar to the Cardinals, everyone I know that has gone there has said it's an awesome place to watch a game. Their fans are also extremely loyal. Even after the cheating scandal, their fans stuck with them. The “us vs. them” mentality really rings true and it makes Houston a gritty baseball town.

--Cyrus Beermann