MLB Twitter roasts ranking of top lineups that excludes National League East: "No Phillies is just hating" "NL East teams being snubbed is absurd"

We've reached that time of year where MLB spring training is open for business, but baseball games have yet to begin. Hence, with images and videos of players practicing only keeping people's attentions for so long, media sites feel the need to barrage fans with endless lists and prognostications as there is little else to cover.

Wednesday's list for the sake of making lists comes to us from Bleacher Report, which ranked the top five lineups in MLB. Of course, the list is done for little more than to spur debate, and the motive succeeded again.

The National League East triumvirate of the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies were left completely off the top five list – possibly intentionally, possibly because that's how the list creator really felt. Either way, fans of the division rivals are, well, annoyed.

Those MLB fans that weren't seething about the entirety of the NL East being excluded from the list, were laughing about the St. Louis Cardinals being inserted at No. 4. Do Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt alone make a team worthy of a top five selection? Fans were nearly unanimomous in their opinion that it certainly did not.

Those that weren't laughing about the Cardinals' inclusion were stupefied by the Los Angeles Dodgers making the list at No. 5. The team has Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts at the top and is solid through the cleanup spot, but the Dodgers are not the offensive juggernaut of previous seasons. Pretty lean at the bottom of the order.

Not a ton of respect for the Toronto Blue Jays, ranked No. 3 on this list, out in the MLB twitterverse either.

They wouldn't make the lists if they weren't a surefire way of gaining attention and clicks. That said, for as much as these lists infuriate many MLB fans, they aren't going away anytime soon.

MLB baseball is right around the corner

Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees poses for a portrait during media day.

February may be the shortest month, but it seems to last forever for many baseball fans. After the initial joy of pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training fades, there isn't much for a fan to do for a few weeks while games involving their teams remain tantalizingly close.

Hang in there, fans. spring training games begin on Friday, with truly competitive baseball taking place soon thereafter as the World Baseball Classic begins on March 7.