A data analysis of more than a million online comments has determined that Cardinals fans are the most couth of them all.
The online betting website VegasInsider conducted the analysis of 1.264 million comments in subreddits for each MLB team, tracking the period between April 2025 and April 2026. The analysis looked for the proportion of curse words used in the comments of each subreddit to determine which fanbase had the best and worst manners. It also analyzed the content of the comments to determine whose fans are the most positive and most negative.
The site found that the Athletics fanbase was the most foul-mouthed — with 6.03% of their comments including profanity — and the second-most negative — with 26.61% of their comments being categorized as negative. The Boston Red Sox were neck-and-neck in the analysis, with the second-highest ratio of comments with swear words and highest percentage of negative comments. Perhaps unsurprisingly, both groups' favorite swear word is f**k.
On the upside, the Cardinals fanbase took top honors as the most honorable crowd, with only 3.13% of comments containing swear words (the most popular being s**t). And Cardinals fans essentially tied Rockies fans as the most positive fanbase, with just slightly fewer positive comments than Rockies fans but also fewer negative comments (the analysis ranked some comments as "neutral").
The results revealing a well-mannered Cardinals Nation carry even more weight considering the Cardbirds' abysmal 2025 season: the second-worst (78-84) since 2007, with 2023 (71-91) being the worst since 1990. In spite of that, Cardinals fans — while ghosting Busch Stadium like a bad ex — managed to keep it classy in the comments.
The analysis methodology is below.
METHODOLOGY
- Collection Period: April 2025 - April 2026
- In total, 1,264,899 comments from 30 subreddits of the 2026 MLB fandoms were analyzed, looking for comments that contained swear words
- Each fandom was assigned a percentage value based on the % of the comments on their subreddit that contained swear words
- In total, 52,313 swear words were found
- Each comment was analysed using a sentiment analysis tool VADER that assigns a score and classifies it as positive, negative, or neutral, and these results were then aggregated by team to calculate the proportion of each sentiment
- Additionally, the emotional tone of each comment was assessed and categorized as either negative, positive or neutral
- Minimum number of comments collected per fandom: 4,000
- The final analysis was carried out in April 2026
