Establishing my five favorite baseball teams

I feel it is a good idea for me to get the list of my five favorite baseball teams out there right now so as not to be accused of being a frontrunner or something of that nature later on. Here they are:

1. San Francisco Giants
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. Oakland Athletics
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. Kansas City Royals

I also have a bit of a soft spot for the Toronto Blue Jays as well as typically have a sort of rooting interest for smaller market teams. Numbers 1 and 2 on my list are solidly in place. 3-5 are more fluid with Toronto kind of close to the list as well.

My love for the Giants started on a family trip to San Francisco when I was still pretty young. My dad took us to Opening Day at Candlestick Park and the Giants had a thrilling victory over the Houston Astros in 10 innings in which J.T. Snow scored the winning run on a close play at the plate. The crowd was big, rowdy and passionate about their team. I just love that kind of atmosphere. That day is what really started me toward becoming a big San Francisco Giants fan. I love being part of a passionate fan base of a team that plays in a really cool city as well as has a great history (that it appropriately honors) and runs things in the organization the right way.

As for the Philadelphia Phillies my love for them has blossomed in more recent years. I distinctly remember a four-game series in Philadelphia in August of 2007 against the New York Mets who were at the time the team to beat in the division. The Phillies swept the series, winning the fourth game in thrilling fashion, and cut the division lead to two games. The Phillies also had a good run down the stretch of the season while the Mets collapsed. I fell in love with the Phillies old-school attitude of playing the game hard and having fun on the diamond. I could just tell there were a lot of good guys on the team and that they had great chemistry. I love stuff like that. Jimmy Rollins became my favorite player around that time with his bold talk of the Phils being the team to beat in the National League East prior to the season and then backing that up with an MVP season and division title. He also exhibited great leadership on the team. Really cool stuff.

I don't have stories like the above for the rest of the teams on my list, but I still like them nonetheless. So there you have it, the list is out there.