• by Larissa Faw , April 8, 2015

Major League Baseball may have just kicked off the start of its season, but fans on social media have already predicted the winners: St. Louis Cardinals will defeat the Los Angeles Angels in the World Series. 

Digital marketing firm Prime Visibility conducted a study that looked at over two million positive mentions, which it translates as fan confidence, across all 30 MLB teams to gauge social media sentiment about which team will come out on top.

Based upon the fan confidence score, each team was awarded a standing with the St. Louis Cardinals having the highest fan confidence (96.77%). The team has reason to be confident, says Prime Visibility, having made the postseason three out of the last four years, winning the World Series in 2011 and making it to the NLCS last year.

One of the more surprising predictions is that last year’s champions, the San Francisco Giants, will come in last place in their division with a record of 63-99. "Some of it is due to the fact that the Dodgers are expected to do so well this year and the Padres are expected to also improve,” says David Neuman, Director, Social Media Services, Prime Visibility. “It’s not that fans necessarily expect them to be the 27th worst team, but they are a lot less confident heading into this year."

Meanwhile, perennial favorite the New York Yankees are predicted to be a .500 team. "Typically their fans are very confident, but since they didn’t make the playoffs last year and [Derek] Jeter not being on the team anymore, it might have resulted in a sharp decline," says Neuman. The other New York team, the Mets also served up mixed fan reaction. "The Mets are expected to be a Wild Card contender, but still ranked only 16th," he says. "The Mets have been through so much disappointment in recent years, fans are kind of waiting to see to what happens first before getting their hopes up."

Despite trash-talking across all teams, the Chicago White Sox are the only team with a fan confidence score below 50% (42.23%); in turn, the team is predicted to go 58-104.

This is the first year Prime Visibility has tracked MLB teams. Hopefully, these fan forecasts will prove to be more accurate than its NCAA's March Madness prophesies.

Team Rank by Fan Confidence:
1. St. Louis Cardinals: 96.77%
2. Washington Nationals: 93.20%
3. Los Angeles Dodgers: 92.65%
4. Los Angeles Angels: 87.58%
5. Boston Red Sox: 87.17%
6. Kansas City Royals: 85.03%
7. Baltimore Orioles: 81.50%
8. San Diego Padres: 80.38%
9. Tampa Bay Rays: 77.79%
10. Seattle Mariners: 77.47%
11. Pittsburgh Pirates: 76.59%
12. Cincinnati Reds: 76.40%
13. Milwaukee Brewers: 75.32%
14. Detroit Tigers: 73.82%
15. New York Yankees: 73.62%
16. New York Mets: 71.79%
17. Chicago Cubs: 70.49%
18. Atlanta Braves: 69.01%
19. Colorado Rockies: 68.69%
20. Oakland Athletics: 68.18%
21. Texas Rangers: 67.04%
22. Toronto Blue Jays: 65.04%
23. Cleveland Indians: 64.82%
24. Miami Marlins: 64.57%
25. Houston Astros: 62.28%
26. Arizona Diamondbacks: 60.49%
27. San Francisco Giants: 57.58%
28. Philadelphia Phillies: 56.95%
29. Minnesota Twins: 56.58%
30. Chicago White Sox: 42.23%