DC metro area population 6,324,629
Baltimore metro area population 2,325,00
This should end any debate. By the numbers DC area should dominate. It is amazing the Baltimore area schools have been able to do as well as they have in previous years vs the DC area schools.
Yeah "by the numbers" is important, but that's the wrong number.
The NYC-Long Island-West Chester area has roughly 20 million people and they consistently crank out *checks notes* about 3-4 superior teams, total. So maybe you are looking at the wrong number.
The number you're looking for is: What proportion of kids play? In Baltimore, a roughly 8 mile drive on 6 total (connected) streets will take you past McDonough, Beth Tfiloh, St. Pauls, Boys Latin, Gilman, Friends, Loyola and Calvert Hall. And take literally one street back over across town from Calvert Hall to St. Pauls.
The Towson-Baltimore-Howard County-Annapolis area at large has very high levels of youth participation, and has for 20 years. Almost every football and soccer player plays lax at least at the rec-club level. About 1/3 of baseball players all the way through middle school, also play club lax. On average, are these athletes better than the DC area? I'm sure they're not. But the funnel is huge, and I would definitely argue there are as many middle school club lax players (ie potential HS starters) from the smaller Baltimore-Annapolis-HoCo bubble, as there are from DC, PGCO, MOCO, Fairfax, Arlington, and Loudon.
