Year in Search 2022: Philadelphia Phillies biggest gainers among sports teams; Padres and Guardians also crack top 10 in USA

The Philadelphia Phillies are the most popular MLB team. One of the best ways to gauge popularity among MLB teams is by looking at Google's search results for the calendar year.

While teams like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are some of the most often searched teams, each year gives way to new teams that have had a special season.

"Top Google Trends in the United States by relative interest in each state over the last hour." - @ Topical

Out of the top sports teams that people looked up on Google in the USA in 2022, the Philadelphia Phillies are the most searched for baseball team. This evidently comes from the playoff push that the team had. After sneaking into the postseason for the first time since 2011, Bryce Harper's squad pushed all the way to the World Series, eventually losing to the Houston Astros.

The Philadelphia Phillies have more searches on Google than any other sports team, with the Boston Celtics in 2nd place after nearly beating the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals.

Although NBA and NFL teams dominate the top 10, the list does feature a couple more MLB teams. At number 7 are the San Diego Padres. The Padres had no shortage of drama in 2022. The team made the postseason in a full season for the first time in 2006, beating both the heavily favored New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers before eventually ceding to the Phillies in the NLCS.

"Google reveals one of the year's top queries: who is the watcher?" - @ Philly Voice

Finally, the 9th most searched sports team on Google in the USA in 2022, were the Cleveland Guardians. This most likely has to do with the team's name change. The team rebranded themselves as the Guardians in 2022 after over a hundred years under the Indiana moniker. The name change surely drew considerable interest from fans in the USA.

Philadelphia Phillies at the top, but NFL and NBA dominate the US search statistics

Although the 2022 Philadelphia Phillies garnered a lot of fanfare, most of the teams searched in the USA in 2022 consisted of football and basketball teams. In fact, 6 out of the top 10 most-searched teams either come from the NFL or from the NBA. The only NHL team to feature were the Calgary Flames, who came in at number 10 on the list.