NEW YORK — The New York Yankees enter the 2026 MLB season with one of the most expensive rosters in baseball. Yet their own fanbase has almost given up hope.
According to The Athletic’s MLB Hope-O-Meter survey, just 67.6 percent of Yankees fans described themselves as optimistic heading into 2026. That places New York 22nd out of 30 teams. And the club right below them on that list? The Chicago White Sox, the team that posted the worst record in the American League in 2025, at 67.2 percent.
A slide Yankees fans have watched for years
The numbers tell a grim story. Yankees fan optimism stood at 80.7 percent in 2024, then dipped to 68.1 percent in 2025, and now sits at 67.6 percent in 2026. Three straight years of decline. The only time it was lower in recent memory was 2022, when it bottomed out at 48 percent before a strong regular season temporarily restored some goodwill.
Compare that to nearly every other contending franchise. The Boston Red Sox sit at 90 percent optimism. The Baltimore Orioles are at 87 percent. Even the New York Mets, a franchise that has had its own share of dysfunction, clock in at 83.8 percent despite gutting their roster after a disappointing 2025.
White Sox comparison stings the hardest
Here is the number that will sting Yankees fans the most: the Chicago White Sox, who went through arguably the worst two-season stretch in modern baseball history, posted a 67.2 percent optimism score. That is just 0.4 percentage points below the Yankees.
The White Sox have an excuse. They tore their roster down to the studs and are now rebuilding around a promising young core that includes Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teel and Chase Meidroth. Their fans see a path forward. One White Sox fan surveyed by The Athletic captured the mood: “Things can only go up from rock bottom, right?”
Yankees fans, by contrast, are staring at a franchise that has not rebuilt, has not retooled in any dramatic fashion, and has not won a World Series since 2009.
The numbers that place the blame squarely on Cashman and ownership
This is where The Athletic’s Hope-O-Meter data becomes a direct verdict on Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenner ownership group.
Over the past five years, the Yankees have never cracked the top 11 in fan optimism, despite consistently ranking among the top five in payroll. In 2022, they were 21st. In 2023, 18th. In 2024, 11th. In 2025, 17th. Now, 22nd.
The pattern is clear. Cashman’s strategy of cycling the same aging core through the same playoff disappointments has worn down the fanbase. The Yankees lost the 2024 World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They responded in the offseason by adding pieces rather than making bold changes. Fans noticed.
One survey respondent, identified only as Kirsten, put it bluntly: “I don’t think the Yankees will crater to the bottom of the standings. I think, like many people, I just foresee another excellent regular season and an early playoff exit.”
Another, Jordan, was even more pointed: “When has running it back ever worked after it didn’t even work the first time?”
Marlins and Red Sox offer an unflattering mirror
The Miami Marlins, a small-market team with perpetual fire-sale fears, sit at 68.3 percent optimism in 2026. That is higher than the Yankees. The Marlins spent the last three years rebuilding from the bottom. The Yankees have spent hundreds of millions trying to buy their way to a championship.
Boston Red Sox fans, once enduring the same kind of championship drought that haunts the Bronx, are now at 90 percent. The Red Sox rebuilt their farm system, developed Roman Anthony, locked up Garrett Crochet, and now project as one of the most exciting young teams in the AL. The contrast with the Yankees, who have consistently pushed back their timeline and mortgaged prospects for veterans who did not deliver, is impossible to ignore.
The Mets dropped to 83.8 percent after a painful 2025, but that is still 16 points above the Yankees. Steve Cohen’s willingness to blow up what was not working, even at enormous financial cost, has given Mets fans a reason to believe in change. Yankees fans are still waiting for that moment.
Fan survey reflects a deeper trust crisis
The Hope-O-Meter is not just a mood check. It measures institutional trust. When the Dodgers sit at 99.8 percent optimism, it reflects years of smart drafting, aggressive spending and organizational coherence. When the Yankees sit at 67.6 percent, neck and neck with a rebuild-in-progress White Sox team, it reflects the opposite.
The overall league-wide optimism in 2026 is 72 percent, up from 66 percent in 2025. The Yankees are below that league average. A franchise of their resources, market size and history has no business sitting below the MLB midpoint in fan confidence.
Cashman and the Steinbrenner family own this number. They built the roster. They made the decisions. And right now, their own fans trust them about as much as they trust a team that lost 121 games two seasons ago.
The 2026 season is an opportunity to change that. But based on what Yankees fans are saying, they will believe it when they see it.
MLB Hope-O-Meter: All 30 teams fan optimism (2022-2026)
Source: The Athletic MLB Hope-O-Meter, fifth annual survey (mid-March 2026, 11,000+ respondents)
| Team | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 98.1% | 75.6% | 96.7% | 99.7% | 99.8% |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 99.1% | 97.3% | 31.0% | 18.3% | 96.2% |
| Seattle Mariners | 88.5% | 96.0% | 63.3% | 32.4% | 95.7% |
| Detroit Tigers | 92.0% | 16.2% | 80.6% | 86.9% | 95.0% |
| Kansas City Royals | 73.5% | 44.2% | 74.4% | 93.5% | 94.5% |
| Chicago Cubs | 17.6% | 52.3% | 90.3% | 79.5% | 92.4% |
| Boston Red Sox | 88.0% | 38.5% | 12.2% | 91.8% | 90.0% |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 92.2% | 73.3% | 67.2% | 75.8% | 87.8% |
| Baltimore Orioles | 6.8% | 85.3% | 98.7% | 79.7% | 87.0% |
| New York Mets | 94.6% | 95.6% | 38.4% | 95.5% | 83.8% |
| Cincinnati Reds | 5.9% | 4.4% | 95.9% | 86.7% | 79.8% |
| Athletics | 1.9% | 3.9% | 8.4% | 49.0% | 79.3% |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 4.1% | 31.9% | 40.1% | 18.7% | 78.8% |
| Texas Rangers | 59.5% | 87.7% | 97.0% | 97.5% | 77.5% |
| San Francisco Giants | 84.7% | 59.4% | 31.1% | 58.6% | 72.8% |
| Atlanta Braves | 99.7% | 98.3% | 98.5% | 84.4% | 72.3% |
| San Diego Padres | 61.8% | 98.8% | 56.3% | 70.2% | 72.0% |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 84.9% | 98.7% | 96.9% | 84.1% | 71.3% |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 7.5% | 87.8% | 97.3% | 99.4% | 71.3% |
| Cleveland Guardians | 14.0% | 97.1% | 44.2% | 73.4% | 68.7% |
| Miami Marlins | 62.5% | 25.0% | 40.4% | 15.6% | 68.3% |
| New York Yankees | 48.0% | 71.1% | 80.7% | 68.1% | 67.6% |
| Chicago White Sox | 88.6% | 56.5% | 4.7% | 8.7% | 67.2% |
| Houston Astros | 97.4% | 100.0% | 96.0% | 59.0% | 59.5% |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 76.5% | 90.8% | 44.1% | 11.9% | 32.3% |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 91.8% | 91.4% | 76.6% | 73.8% | 31.6% |
| Colorado Rockies | 17.2% | 1.8% | 4.6% | 8.8% | 25.3% |
| Washington Nationals | 5.6% | 12.0% | 50.6% | 62.7% | 24.2% |
| Los Angeles Angels | 71.4% | 81.1% | 15.6% | 11.5% | 5.7% |
| Minnesota Twins | 70.1% | 91.3% | 86.3% | 52.0% | 4.3% |
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