Some MLB team's fan bases cover entire states if not large regions of the country. Most are at least the most popular team in every county in their home metro-area.
Of course, the Marlins are not like most MLB teams. The Fish have one of the smallest geographical fan footprints according to a new map constructed using Facebook data.
See also: The Dolphins Own Florida: A County-by-County Map of the State's Favorite NFL Teams
Here, via The Wall Street Journal, is a map of every county in the nation colored with the team that has the most Facebook likes among its residents.
Yes, you'll notice the Marlins' beigey-orange color just fills in Miami-Dade, and, if you look closely, Okeechobee County (a county of around 6,000 people).
What's more surprising is the counties the Marlins aren't the most popular in. We guess we can understand Palm Beach, but you too, Broward? That team played right at the county line for years and you can't even bother to click "like" on Facebook? Thanks a lot. We'll remember that the next time we think about going to a Panthers game!
To put this in prospective, here's a similar Facebook map from last year that showed the fandom footprints of all the NFL teams.
The Dolphins' orange has a stronghold on large swaths of Florida, even cutting into areas that one would figure would be Bucs of Jags territory.
Geographically, the Marlin's two-county popularity is only larger than the San Diego Padres (only most popular in their home county) and the New York Mets (overshadowed both home and nationally by the Yankees). Of course the Toronto Blue Jays don't show up anywhere on the map, but we assume they have the entire country of Canada to count on. Especially after Marlins owner and ex-Montreal Expos chief Jeffrey Loria left them with no competition north of the border when he set the wheels in motion for the Expos move to Washington.
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