According to Jim... My favorite American League baseball team

Since my childhood, I was raised to love three teams - the St. Louis Cardinals, Rams and Blues.

Of course, I never got to be a good Rams fan until middle school, since they were in Los Angeles for most of their franchise history.

But nevertheless, these teams have given me some great memories throughout my life.

I got to see Curtis Joseph, Brett Hull and Brendan Shanahan tear up the ice in the early 1990s, watch Ozzie Smith do a back flip on opening day, hear the late Jack Buck say, "Is it enough?" as Mark McGwire just barely hit No. 62 over the fence and witness the Rams win the Super bowl by merely one yard.

Oh, don't forget the 2006 World Series, which I attended for game three.

Those three teams have given me hundreds of great sports memories and left little to no gaps that I can recall. But now I'm looking to add another team to the roster.

I played fantasy baseball for the first time this year, and it's surprising how it really forces you to become a bigger fan of the actual sport of baseball more than your own team. There'd be days where I was pitching Ted Lilly on my roster and, although I would never root for the Cubs, I would feel better when he brought me some points.

Major League Baseball is a unique professional league because, unlike other sports, the separate leagues hardly play each other. They even have different rules.

Therefore, I think it's time to step out of the National League and pick my favorite American League team. Let's examine our options.

First, I'll rule out the two teams I could never love - the New York Yankees, who are loved by Satan, and the Boston Red Sox, who are quintessentially the Yankees of the 21st century.

I don't want to be a bandwagon jumper and start loving the Cleveland Indians, but I don't want to pick a team that is horrible either. This rules out clubs like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Kansas City Royals.

The new love of my life has to be a team that doesn't necessarily always have a great record, but has something consistently great about them, like great players, fan base or history.

So, I've got this narrowed down to three teams - the Oakland Athletics, the Los Angeles should-be-Anaheim Angels and the Chicago White Sox.

The Athletics are known for giving great players the start to their careers, like Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco and Rickey Henderson. They're also the cross-league rival of another team I dislike - the San Francisco Giants. Most of that dislike is for Barry Bonds, however, I like them a little more now that he's gone.

The Angels, less historic than their neighbors the Los Angeles Dodgers, have some fan favorites on their roster, like Vladimir Guerrero and they have one of the coolest-looking parks in Major League Baseball.

The Chicago White Sox would be a good pick for several reasons. The most obvious is history. Dating back to the Black Sox scandal, the White Sox have their share of both good history and bad. Despite winning the World Series in 2005, they had two dissappointing seasons to follow. So, they are not the best team, but not the worst either.

The second reason is location. Since I live in the Illinois side of St. Louis, picking an Illinois team would be a suitable choice for a second favorite.

But the last reason is the best - like the Cardinals, the White Sox hate the Cubs and are more successful than them as well.

So, if you haven't guessed already, my new favorite American League team will be the Chicago White Sox.

The power trio of positives that the Sox have to offer makes this one an easy decision. I'll never root for these guys more than my beloved Cardinals, but every now and then you might catch me and a brand new Chicago White Sox hat.