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World Series May Be Midwest Affair, But Baseball Ranks High In Area

Several Hudson Valley places have made it onto WalletHub’s latest list of "Best Baseball Cities 2016."

The personal finance website, WalletHub, released its annual list of "Best Baseball Cities" Tuesday. Several Hudson Valley communities, including Fishkill and New Rochelle, were rated on 25 factors for "baseball-fan friendliness."

The personal finance website, WalletHub, released its annual list of "Best Baseball Cities" Tuesday. Several Hudson Valley communities, including Fishkill and New Rochelle, were rated on 25 factors for "baseball-fan friendliness."

Photo Credit: Skip Pearlman

According to the personal finance website, the cities and their overall rankings were: (258) Fishkill, where Dutchess Stadium, the home of the Hudson Valley Renegades, is located; (282) West Point, where the U.S. Military Academy is located; (347) Poughkeepsie, and (359) New Rochelle.

WalletHub released its survey Tuesday, the day the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians faced off in Cleveland to start  the 2016 World Series. 

The website, noting that while football is the most followed sport in America, more than 52 million adults say they are baseball fans and are willing to pay “top dollar” to watch their favorite teams play.

A seat at Wrigley Field for certain games in the World Series costs a whopping $7,200, WalletHub reported.

The site surveyed 361 of the largest U.S. cities, ones that had at least one professional or college baseball team.

Those cities were then grouped by division, based on 25 factors relating to “baseball-fan friendliness,” WalletHub said.

Those factors included everything from the teams’ performance levels to stadium accessibility to average ticket price for a game.

WalletHub’s top 10 baseball cities were, in order: New York City, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, Arlington, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Chicago.

In our region, Fishkill had an overall score of 7.42, an MLB ranking of 27, an MiLB ranking of 64, and an NCAA ranking of 255.

West Point’s numbers, following that format, were: 6.86, 27, 158 and 153.

Poughkeepsie’s: 4.60, 27, `58, 236.

And, New Rochelle’s: 3.53, 27, 158 and 250.

By comparison, New York City, at the very top of the list, came in at 58.07, 2, 5 and 3.

As far as best vs. worst goes, outside of our area, WalletHub said:

  • The St. Louis Cardinals’ performance level was 1.4 times better than the Houston Astros’.
  • The State College Spikes’ performance level was two times better than the Bristol Pirates’.
  • The Louisville Cardinals’ performance level was seven times better than the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils’.
  • Phoenix has the lowest average season ticket price (for MLB games) -- $18.53. It is three times less expensive than in Boston, the city with the highest, $54.79.
  • San Francisco has the highest attendance as a percentage of stadium capacity (for MLB games), 99.2 percent; Cleveland has the lowest at 44.7 percent.
To read the complete list of Best Baseball Cities, the questions WalletHub asked its panel of experts to answer, its methodology and other factoids, click here.

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