First you take the World Series, then pick the underdog and you root for them. Except for a handful of states — four to be exact.
Every decade, fans unite — not necessarily for their own teams, but against one. The Yankees of the 1990s, the Patriots of the 2010s, the golden era of the Golden State Warriors, and now the reigning World Series champions: the 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers.
Success breeds loyalty, but it also breeds a bit of resentment. This October, Dodger blue has become the color to root against for much of North America.
Well, everywhere except the Beehive State.
States joining Utah in supporting Dodger blue include the team’s home state of California, along with Nevada and Hawaii — the lone four of 50 siding with the champs.
BetOnline, which tracks sports-based trends and has produced a World Series rooting interest map every season for the past decade, analyzed more than 130,000 posts on X this week to determine which team fans are backing.
The data, collected from geotagged posts between Monday night’s matchup announcement and now, shows the nation overwhelmingly siding with the Toronto Blue Jays — the underdogs in this year’s World Series showdown.
The journey to the World Series
The Los Angeles Dodgers punched their ticket by sweeping the series against the Milwaukee Brewers, continuing a dominant postseason after winning it all last year.
On the other side, the Toronto Blue Jays fought their way through, beating the Seattle Mariners in a thrilling seven-game series to earn their first World Series berth in over three decades.
Are the Dodgers baseball’s new villains?
The Dodgers, who took home the title last year, have become one of the sport’s most controversial teams.
Some fans argue that Los Angeles can simply buy its way to championships, backed up by a payroll of just over $350 million, according to Spotrac.
With back-to-back World Series appearances and the league’s highest payroll, LA has stepped into the villain role once reserved for the Yankees.
They’re a team most of America is rooting against and a team that few states, including Utah, love to root for.
The underdog Blue Jays
North of the border, it has been 32 years since the Blue Jays have secured a World Series victory, cemented in history from Joe Carter’s walk home run, sealing the 1993 championship.
That same year, Whitney Houston topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Will Always Love You,” and Michael Jordan had announced his retirement earlier that year, coming off his first three-peat with the Chicago Bulls, as noted by ESPN.
One X user shared a video highlighting what the last World Series game played at Blue Jays home field looked like.
While the Blue Jays currently find themselves with the seventh highest payroll in Major League Baseball, they are about $100 million below the Dodgers in payroll spending at just over $255 million, according to Spotrac.
One fan on X noted that they weren’t a fan of the Blue Jays, but they just really hate the Dodgers — followed by #gojays.
Another fan planned to “root for whoever was going against the Dodgers in the World Series” but after the Blue Jays beat the Mariners in Game 7, this fan had to change to cheer for the United States-based team.