YANKS WIN (OUR HEARTS)
Beat Mets among NYC fans
When it comes to baseball pride in the Big Apple, the Yankees rule the roost, with 53 percent of local MLB fans rooting for the Bronx Bombers and 34 percent cheering the Mets, a new Quinnipiac poll has found.
The Amazin’s don’t even have home-field advantage this year, as 45 percent of baseball fans living in Queens cheer the Yankees, compared with 40 percent backing the Mets, according to the poll released Monday.
Manhattanite fans don’t really like the Mets, either, with 36 percent backing them versus 47 percent for the Yankees.
And the Yanks dominate on Staten Island, 61 to 36 percent, and in their home borough of The Bronx, 73 to 16 percent.
“With all that home-run firepower, the baby Bombers rule the city — for now,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
“When you got the long ball going out of the stadium, even people who don’t know much about baseball turn their heads. But hope springs eternal in the spring — 162 games later, who knows?”
New Yorkers could be accused of being fair-weather fans.
Last year — with the Amazin’s coming off a National League pennant in 2015 and a wild-cardwinning 2016 — Quinnipiac data found 45 percent of local fans preferred the Mets to the Yanks.
The Mets tanked last season, while the Yankees powered their way back into postseason play.
“What you’re seeing is early optimism for a long-ball-hitting team and a new manager,” Malloy said of the Yanks. “It’s a fresh, young team . . . It’s a legendary franchise, which is part of the fabric of the city . . . and they hit home runs.”
After the Mets and Yankees, the next two most popular teams in New York are the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, at 3 percent and 1 percent, respectively, according to the poll.
They were also the second most popular teams in 2017 followed by the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians.
This year’s Yankee love crosses gender lines, with male fans picking the team 56 to 32 percent and female fans 50 to 36 percent.
The results came as snow delayed both teams’ games Monday.
“While not as good as peanuts and cracker jacks at the ballpark, this will get the @Yankees vs @Mets trash talk going,” tweeted NY1 political commentator Gerson Borrero.
With a 3.6-point margin of error, this year’s survey polled 1,230 local adults from March 22 to 27 via landline and cellphone.
A total of 41 percent identified themselves as fans of the sport, indicating they were “very interested” or “somewhat interested” in major-league baseball.