Yankees haters, where are you?

How about this, Yankees fans, your favorite team is not the most hated franchise in baseball. Yankees fans get worn out listening to people elsewhere, including certain parts of New York, complain about the Bombers and their free-spending ways that have built the most successful club in baseball’s history. Yankees haters are so far and wide that is absolutely stunning to find out that a recent survey found that the Yankees are not No. 1 on the can’t-stand list.

According to a report by the Nielsen Company, the folks who have done the television ratings for years, the most despised baseball franchise in North America is – drum roll please – the Cleveland Indians. The Indians? That club in that wonderful ballpark along the banks of Lake Erie? Who answered this survey? All those politically-correct types who want Chief Wahoo removed from the Tribe’s caps and uniforms?

The Nielson “formula,” as it was called, was based on determining whether consumers have positive, negative or neutral reactions to brands in their online messages. And, get this, the Yankees weren’t even runners-up. That distinction went to their rival Boston Red Sox. In fact, the Yankees were no higher than fifth on the hate list behind third-place Cincinnati and fourth-place Houston. The survey was tough on Buckeyes as both Ohio clubs were in the top four of despised franchises.

Just for the record, the two most popular clubs in the survey were the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics. Break up the Bay Area?