{"id":531237,"date":"2026-01-21T17:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T17:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/531237\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T17:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T17:49:19","slug":"a-royals-fans-guide-to-cheering-for-multiple-teams-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/531237\/","title":{"rendered":"A Royals fan\u2019s guide to cheering for multiple teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to family lore, the first team I ever rooted for was the St. Louis Cardinals, the football version. See, I entered this crazy world on a Sunday around 11 a.m. back when the Cardinals still played in Missouri, and about an hour later, my parents and I\u2014well, I\u2019m guessing just my father\u2014turned on the Cardinals versus Cowboys.<\/p>\n

In their last season opener before leaving for the desert, the Cardinals topped the \u2018Boys, 24-13.<\/p>\n

But outside of Super Bowl XLIII, I\u2019ve never rooted for those Cardinals.<\/p>\n

The other St. Louis Cardinals, well, now that\u2019s a different story.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve rooted for that baseball team my entire life. I\u2019ve attended far more Cardinals games than Royals games. Until about 2010, when it became clear that I\u2019d be staying in Kansas City, the Cardinals were my primary team. At that point, though, I switched. I wanted to be a fan of the team in the city (or area) where I resided.<\/p>\n

\"Kansas<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by Dilip Vishwanat\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Still, I cheer on the Cardinals. I won\u2019t get too much into it, but the last few years have been painful for the franchise, and now they\u2019re doing something they really haven\u2019t done during my lifetime\u2014rebuilding. Like, a full-scale, tear-it-down-to-the-studs rebuild. It\u2019s probably for the best for the franchise to do that, and yet it\u2019s still\u2026weird, I guess, to see it happening.<\/p>\n

So, yes, I root for two Major League Baseball teams, the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve devised a set of completely objective (subjective) rules grounded in science (eh) that will allow you to root for multiple teams in the same league without feeling bad (debatable) about it.<\/p>\n

This stems from a) me rooting for both the Royals and Cardinals and b) one of my sisters insisting that it\u2019s okay to root for both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos, when it\u2019s actually SACRILEGIOUS.<\/p>\n

You can of course root for a team that you\u2019ve been raised to cheer. This happened to me. I never lived in St. Louis but rooted for the Cardinals because that was my dad\u2019s team, my mom\u2019s team. Of my large family, I was the only one not born in St. Louis. I didn\u2019t have much of a choice even after we moved to Kansas City.<\/p>\n

If you find yourself born in, let\u2019s say, San Francisco to a pair of expats from Seattle, let your Mariners\u2019 flag fly. But don\u2019t forget about the Giants. Different leagues, so it\u2019s okay! When the two teams face each other, well, go with your gut.<\/p>\n

Rule No. 2: Geography is King<\/p>\n

If you want to root for two teams in the same league, those teams shouldn\u2019t be that close in proximity. You can\u2019t root for the Dodgers and the Angels. (Do the Angels have fans?) Or the Rams and Chargers. (Do the Chargers have fans?) It\u2019s too weird to cheer on the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders. Giants and Jets. You get the idea.<\/p>\n

Pick the team in your own backyard and forget the neighbor who\u2019s within walking distance. Too awkward.<\/p>\n

Rule No. 3: The Yankees Directive<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry, but if you root for the Yankees, you cannot cheer for another team. You are a Yankees fan. There\u2019s nothing worse, and you are forbidden from cheering on another baseball team. When the Bronx Bombers\u2019 season ends, you must turn off your TV and radio until after the World Series.<\/p>\n

This can be extended to all other North American professional sports leagues, including other teams in baseball. If you root for the Red Sox, that\u2019s it. The same goes for the Dodgers. You\u2019re the new Evil Empire, which I\u2019m sure doesn\u2019t bother you, but there\u2019s no other team for you.<\/p>\n

\"NEW<\/a><\/p>\n

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 01: Fans of the New York Yankees look on during game two of the American League Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on October 1, 2025 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Ishika Samant\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

In the NFL: the Cowboys, of course. Probably the Patriots.<\/p>\n

In the NBA: Lakers, Celtics, Knicks.<\/p>\n

In the NHL: either of those Florida teams. I would include Toronto, but they haven\u2019t won anything in like 100 years.<\/p>\n

Sorry, I don\u2019t make the rules. Wait\u2014[listens to voices in my head]\u2014I\u2019m being told I do make the rules.<\/p>\n

Rule No. 4: Same Division (NFL and MLB only)<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t root for two teams in the same division. That\u2019s just wrong. If you\u2019re a Royals fan, you can\u2019t cheer on the Twins or Guardians or Tigers or White Sox unless it\u2019s the playoffs against the Yankees or Dodgers or Red Sox.<\/p>\n

This is even more of a thing in the NFL. If you cheer for the Chiefs, forget about the Chargers (which is easy) and the Raiders and the Broncos. You can root for the Raiders and Chargers against the Cowboys but you can never cheer for the Broncos. Seriously, if Max would let me cuss, I would do that here.<\/p>\n

But this rule for divisions only applies to only MLB and the NFL.<\/p>\n

Why? Because I can\u2019t even name all of the divisions in the NHL\u2014is the Patrick still a thing?\u2014and I don\u2019t think divisions matter anymore in the NBA when it comes to playoff seeding. Maybe it does, but it\u2019s not nearly as big of a deal as it is in baseball and football.<\/p>\n

Strange as it sounds, there are people out there who will marry someone who roots for a different team than their own. My wife and I have never had this problem, though she is vehemently anti-St. Louis, for reasons she hasn\u2019t shared or she\u2019s shared, but I wasn\u2019t listening.<\/p>\n

Still, I\u2019ve seen Mizzou fans marry Kansas fans, Royals fans marry White Sox or Yankees fans, Cardinals fans marry Cubs fans, and even Chiefs fans marry Broncos fans. Oh, big sis.<\/p>\n

Does this civil union in love allow you to break these rules and add that second team to your stable of teams for which you root?<\/p>\n

Stand your ground, dang it! Keep some autonomy. Keep thy independence! Tigers should never root for Jayhawks. Royals should never hope that the best happens to the Yankees. We want them to fail, always!<\/p>\n

Love shouldn\u2019t change that.<\/p>\n

Rule No. 6: No Kroenkes Allowed<\/p>\n

If you root for one of the following teams, you cannot root for another: Rams, Avalanche, Nuggets, and, for our European friends, Arsenal.<\/p>\n

You must never root for your team\u2019s biggest rival even if that team is facing a Yankees-esque opponent. In that case, root for pure chaos.<\/p>\n

Blues fan, but the Red Wings are facing the Lightning for the Eastern Conference title? I\u2019m sorry, but you can\u2019t cheer on either team. You must hope chaos reigns.<\/p>\n

Cardinals fan, but the Cubs are squaring off against the Dodgers in the pennant for the right to face the Red Sox in the World Series? May God have mercy on your soul.<\/p>\n

Chiefs fan, but the Broncos are hosting the Patriots in the AFC Championship game in which the trophy is named after your team\u2019s founding owner?<\/p>\n

Say, have you heard about this thing they call alcohol?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to family lore, the first team I ever rooted for was the St. Louis Cardinals, the football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2387],"tags":[48866,5,936,2123,55,2596,2595,4,252,48864,48865],"class_list":["post-531237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kansas-city-royals","tag-nonsense","tag-baseball","tag-kansas","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-kansascity","tag-kansascityroyals","tag-mlb","tag-royals","tag-royals-humor","tag-satire"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115934355526697955","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}