Canadian Business Online has analyzed "value" as it pertains to baseball players and baseball teams, but we shouldn't forget one other crucial element: baseball fans. After all, without the fans, the teams wouldn't have $100 million to flush down the toilet, and the players truly would be playing for the love of the game. (More likely, they would discover that they loved some other game — one with high salaries.)

The CBO Fan Value Index is an unscientific attempt to measure value from the perspective of the fans — how much enjoyment does your team provide for each dollar you spend at the ballpark? To calculate our Fan Value Index, we weighted three factors for each team:

1. Overall won-lost record (60%). For most fans, the best thing that can happen at a game (outside of a scoreboard marriage proposal that gets accepted) is that the home team wins. The more often a team wins, the better the experience for the fans.
2. Fan Cost Index (30%). Team Marketing Report's Fan Cost Index (FCI) survey measures the average price of attending a game for a typical family of four, including the costs of tickets, parking, concessions and souvenirs. The MLB average is $191.92.
3. Team payroll (10%). Team payroll is a proxy for fan expectations. Higher-payroll teams are expected to win; lower-payroll teams are expected to lose. High expectations reduce the enjoyment derived from wins, and increase the suffering derived from losses.

Sitting at the top of the Fan Value Index are the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays were not only one of the best teams in baseball, but offered the cheapest day at the ballpark, a combination that's tough to beat. Tropicana Field may not be much of a venue, but fans who spent their summer days there, shielded from the Florida heat, were likely to go home with smiles on their faces and cash in their wallets.

At the other end of the rankings are the Seattle Mariners, who also bottomed out as our Worst Value team. With an opening-day payroll of $118 million, the Mariners were expected to be near the top of the standings all year. Instead, they were the worst team in the AL, finishing with 101 losses. Watching the trains pass outside the stadium was more entertaining than watching the train wreck of a team inside, making a day at Safeco Field a poor value despite the league-average FCI.

The Los Angeles (Anaheim) Angels placed No. 2 on our list, while the Los Angeles Dodgers ranked way down at No. 24, despite nearly identical payrolls and first-place finishes for each team. The difference? The FCI in Anaheim was nearly $90 lower than it was at nearby (as the crow flies, not as the car inches along the freeway) Dodger Stadium. Fans in L.A. are known for arriving late and leaving early, but at those prices you'd think they'd do the opposite, to get more baseball per dollar.

The Boston Red Sox ranked No. 10 despite having the highest FCI by far at a financial crisis-inducing $320.71; the New York Yankees were a distant second at $275.10. Despite the cost, tickets to Fenway Park continue to be in great demand. Fair enough, 95 wins and two World Series titles in four years will buy a lot of goodwill.

The Toronto Blue Jays check in at No. 19, due mainly to an FCI of $230.46, fifth highest in the game. (The way the exchange rate is going, that could fall to 15th by the end of the week!) Of course, there are plenty of ways to reduce your personal FCI. Rogers Centre is easily accessible by subway so you don't have to park, you can have a drink at Gretzky's or Joe Badali's before the game so you don't have to buy a $10 beer, and there are numerous cheap hot dog stands just outside the gate. And at the domed Rogers Centre, your day will never be sullied by one of the worst fan experiences — a rainout.