As we saw yesterday, ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball does, in general, feature more eastern teams than teams in other parts of the country.

But, as I said yesterday, that isn’t telling the whole story. Yes, there is an East Coast Bias in appearances, but that bias is not necessarily geographical so much as it is based on two factors: finding the best stories (which are usually the best teams), and getting the most eyeballs watching the games. In fact, at one point a VP of Programming and Acquisitions at ESPN even said as much.

And, well, take a look at each of the teams in the top 10 appearances:

1. New York Yankees 25 appearances
The Yankees aren’t a surprise as being the top team. For better or worse, they are the most ubiquitous team in American sports, and they back it up on the field: they had the best winning percentage from 2007 to 2011. They also have the advantage of being in the biggest market in America. If ESPN could, they’d probably literally put them on every Sunday.

2. Boston Red Sox 24 appearances
Again, not a shock and definitely a team that deserves to be on ESPN a lot- well, until this year (although the drama that they bring makes for great television). They had the third best winning percentage from 2007 to 2011, and, they are in a top 10 market that is even bigger than it appears, as everyone in New England technically can be counted.

3T. St. Louis Cardinals 23 appearances
To the uninitiated, this is a shocker. St. Louis is hardly a big city compared to some of the other giants on the list, after all. However, St. Louis is probably the closest baseball has to the Green Bay Packers: it’s a team and a city that punches far above it’s weight. The “best fans in baseball” moniker for the Cardinal faithful has become a cliché, but it’s true: the Cardinals fans always pack their ballpark, and, according to anecdotal evidence, they lead the league in scorecard sales. The fact that St. Louis had the sixth best record between 2007 and 2011 doesn’t hurt either.

3T. Chicago Cubs 23 appearances
The Cubs are the second-worst team (12th best winning percentage) in the top ten teams that appeared on Sunday Night Baseball, which isn’t surprising as they are, well, the Cubs. However, they had been good in the earlier part of that five-year stretch, and there are two other factors at work: the size of the Chicago market, and the fact that the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry gets good ratings.

5. New York Mets 22 appearances
The Mets’ 18th best record between 2007 and 2011 is not enough to override the fact they play in New York City. In addition, they were good in the early part of that time period, at least as far as winning percentage goes. By the way, after Red Sox-Yankees, Yankees-Mets apparently has the best ratings for Sunday Night Baseball.

6. Philadelphia Phillies 20 appearances
Second best winning percentage plus large market equals lots of appearances.

7. Los Angeles Dodgers 18 appearances
The highest West Coast team, the Dodgers had the 10th best record from 2007 to 2011 and, of course, reside in the second biggest market in America. Will be interesting to see how much more they show up as they escape the shadow of Frank McCourt and Matt Kemp continues to break out onto the national stage.

8. Atlanta Braves 17 appearances
11th best record and ninth largest market. Still have large national popularity due to the fact they were on TV so much back in the TBS days.

9. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 12 appearances
Fourth best winning percentage, but the little brother to the Dodgers. And, just as it looked like they would rise and bring the eyes of Los Angeles onto Anaheim, Albert Pujols went and had the worst start of his career while Magic Johnson bought the Matt Kemp-fueled Dodgers. Whoops.

10. Detroit Tigers 11 appearances
The ninth best record from 2007 to 2011 and one of the largest cities in the Midwest, the Tigers have the most appearances by an AL Central team.

So, as you can see, the teams that appear on ESPN are not being chosen based on their geography, but rather other factors that are predictable once one remembers what a television station is trying to do when it presents it’s product: big teams and big markets. However, this method often overlooks some teams, as I will show in part 3.