Our hometown paper, the Jacksonville Times-Union, did a major story listing the pluses and negatives of all Major League teams for 2009. In it, the Red Sox scored 18 of 20 possible points, having the best SP and RP, and tied with the Rays for the best D and Offense, beating the Rays and the Yankees in that order.
The town is fairly sophisticated about baseball, as it had a Negro League team, and the park still stands, has good baseball programs at Jacksonville University, University of North Florida, Florida Community College and Edward Waters, plus close ties to FSU and the Gators. It has also had an A & AA team for decades, the Jacksonville Suns, through which players like Tug McGraw and Nolan Ryan climbed the ladder.
Most recently Kershaw, LaRoche and Chin Lung Hu are just some who went quickly to the Show as part of the Dodgers system. The Dodgers moved farther west this year, and the Marlins AA took their place in the beautiful new baseball grounds. However, the city mostly follows the Braves, as Atlanta is closer than Miami, but it also lends support to both Tampa and Miami. Lots of Red Sox hats, shirts and jackets around here, and every once in a while, a large print Yankee hat with flat brim, and head size still showing, walks by on a kid with fallling down pants.