MLB's #RivalryWeekend
Where we pretend the Twins and Brewers hate each other
Did you know this week was #RivalryWeekend in MLB? Sponsored by booking.com of course.
Looking at the matchups they labeled as rivalries, it’s more like “Weekend of Geographic Proximity”. Some of these were fun when interleague play first started in 1997, like the Blue Jays-Expos, Yankees-Mets, Cubs-White Sox, etc. Basically any two teams that shared a region but played in separate leagues. Back then, leagues were still very different. Players rarely switched leagues during their careers. Each league had its own set of umpires. The styles of play were still differentiated by DH and non-DH lineups. Things we used to have to wait for an All-Star Game or World Series to see now happened a couple times a year. It even had a pretty cool logo:
Today, there is interleague play every day of the season. With 15 teams in each league, it’s mathematically necessary. Both leagues are the same. Umpires work the entire MLB, pitchers are not forced to hit, and players switch leagues without batting an eye. Starting in 2023, every team plays every other team at least once. There are no more strangers. Some of these matchups feel less like a sports rivalry and more like an arranged marriage. So how did we get saddled with a corporate sponsorship and hashtag telling us these games are extra exciting?
There’s only maybe a half-dozen real rivalries in MLB; the ones that deliver memorable games and seasons more often than not. Giants/Dodgers. Yankees/Red Sox. Cubs/Cardinals. Braves/Mets/Phillies. I can’t think of any others. But we’re asked to buy in to these other #RivalryWeekend series.
Rivalries should be allowed to happen organically. They burn hot and fast. Players move around too much to harbor any long-term grudges for more than a season or two. Playoff matchups sprout new rivalries, and that carries over into the following season if both teams are still playing well. Think Dodgers/Padres, Cubs/Brewers, Rays/Red Sox, Astros/Everyone. Intense rivalries are rare and amazing, but pro sports craves the eyeballs, sellouts and marketing possibilities that these duels generate, and have no qualms about trying to manufacture drama for the sake of ratings.
The NHL is the most flagrant example of that. In 2014, they underwent a realignment from 6 divisions of 5 teams each to 4 divisions of 7 or 8 teams. With expansion to 32 teams, each of the 4 divisions has an even number of teams. Under the old setup, the 3 division winners earned the top 3 seeds in each conference. The 5 remaining teams were seeded based on points. This led to a lot of year-to-year variance in playoff matchups, especially in the first two rounds. Rematches over a span of years were less common, but when they did happen, they led to epic battles. The obvious example is the Avalanche-Red Wings feud of the late 90s, early 00s that spilled more blood than a WWE cage match. As a Sharks fan, we had lots of rivals over their successful run from 2003-2019. Sometimes it was the Stars, sometimes the Red Wings, sometimes the Ducks (🤢).
The league office tried to fuel the flames of these kinds of rivalries and spark new ones with their new setup: Each division got 3 guaranteed teams, with 2 conference wild cards to make the 8 playoff teams on each side. The #2 and #3 seeds in each division had to faceoff in the first round, regardless of where they would have slotted in an 8-team ranking. This meant the same two teams often faced each other over and over. They say familiarity breeds contempt, but it mostly bred boredom. Oilers/Kings, Bruins/Maple Leafs, Sharks/Knights. It wasn’t new or exciting. Instead, they just felt like slightly more important regular season games before the real playoffs began.
MLB is likely to try the NHL model at some point. I think, especially with the drying up of media rights that’s on the horizon, they’ll try to spice things up by pitting teams against each other more regularly at the expense of teams being seeded on merit. What that also does is reduce the chances of two super teams from the same division squaring off in the LCS, like the heated Rangers/Astros ALCS in 2023, or all those Red Sox/Yankees matchups in the 2000s. If MLB starts putting a finger on the scale to make sure these matchups are guaranteed to happen and pitting them head-to-head in the earlier rounds, then we lose what makes them special. Not every game, series or season can be epic. If they were, then they wouldn’t be epic. We need the boring, yawner World Series like 2007 Rockies/Red Sox or 2015 Giants/Tigers to truly enjoy the epic, media darling matchups like 2024 Yankees/Dodgers, 2016 Cubs/Indians, 1989 A’s/Giants.
Dream Rivalries
First, let’s do three #RivalryWeekend matchups I’d actually want to see in 2025:
Yankees-Guardians: CC Sabathia is going into the Hall of Fame this summer as a New York Yankee. It makes sense. He won a World Series with them, pitched 11 seasons and reached many career milestones with them, like his 3,000th strikeout and 250th win. He also pitched pitched 8 seasons for Cleveland, the team that drafted him in the first round in 1998. He pitched 1,528 2/3 innings with a 3.83 ERA for the Indians and 1,918 with a 3.81 ERA for the Yankees. So to make this a matchup worthy of #RivalryWeekend, the winner of this series gets to put their cap on his Cooperstown plaque.
CC Sabathia A’s-River Cats: The owner of the River Cats gladly welcomed the Athletics to Sutter Health Park starting this season, despite the logistical hurdles and costly facility upgrades it meant had to be constructed. One of those upgrades was the addition of a home clubhouse that could meet MLB standards. The triple-A River Cats remain in their original clubhouse which, while recently renovated, obviously wasn’t state-of-the-art compared to the one just built. So have the two clubs play a three-game set, winner gets the better clubhouse and comfier chairs. Like when you’d play your brother in HORSE on vacation to see who got the bed and who got the cot.
Marlins-Pirates: The Marlins (30th) and Pirates (27th) regularly field bottom-five payrolls. Even when they’ve had talent on the roster, their owners have refused to spend to supplement their homegrown talent and increase their odds at playoff success. Now, 20 years or so into this era of nine-figure payrolls and $100million player contracts, it’s time for these teams to get with the times. How can we force these teams to spend money? Well, the loser of this three-game series gets the remaining 2 years and $70million of Anthony Rendon’s contract reallocated to their books. Don’t wanna spend on a winner? Too bad, you’re now stuck spending on a loser. This would be an exciting series. The losing team would see their payroll increase 40-50% overnight.
Odds he reports to either team are less than 0%
Ranking the actual #RivalryWeekend matchups
Astros-Rangers: Lone Star Series. This one is great. Not only is it a divisional rivalry that has had some great matchups in the past few years while also playing for regional, winner-take-all state bragging rights, they also play for the best regular season trophy out there, the Silver Boot Trophy:
Reds-Guardians: The Ohio Cup. The only other series with a trophy on the line, so it gets ranked second by default.
Cubs-White Sox: Crosstown Classic. This is really the last regional rivalry that has any actual juice. The Cubs are still the white collar team with a historical landmark for a home stadium and money pouring in. The White Sox fans are currently going through it and the blue collar pride of that part of the city might be wounded but can never be extinguished.
Mets-Yankees: Subway Series. This one is actually interesting this year (the two teams spent this past offseason fighting for the same star free agent). But even in years without player drama, the fan bases make it a fun matchup to take in, even if social media is extra cringeworthy during these games.
Pirates-Phillies: Keystone State Series.
Well, these teams play each other all the time. And without the beloved POOP score bug, what’s special about this one now? They have a lame logo and no trophy. They really should play for this lovely trophy I just Googled.
Orioles-Nationals: Beltway Series. This one feels like it should be more exciting than it is. First, the teams are rarely both good at the same time, and often, like this season, they are both near the bottom of their respective divisions. Most fans of these teams hold no ill will towards the other side, either. If only other rivalries in the DC area could be this milquetoast.
Dodgers-Angels: Freeway Series. Aren’t all series freeway series? How else do you drive from one stadium to the next. They should make this more interesting… for each win the Angels in this series in a season, $10mil of Ohtani’s deferred contract now has to be paid in the current year. So the Angels’ sweep this weekend would add $30million to the Dodger payroll. Hmm
Padres-Mariners: The Vedder Cup
At least something good will come out of this manufactured rivalry of spring training complex roommates. Donations to medical research will be made because of the Vedder Cup, which came about because Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder was born in San Diego but became a star in Seattle, yet is a diehard Cubs fan. Even with a new trophy, can’t put this higher.
Marlins-Rays: The Citrus Series. Well, at least they gave it a name…
And the rest!
If MLB can’t be bothered to give these a name, then I can’t be bothered to rank them. The Battle of the Bay was a top rivalry, now it’s just A’s/Giants. I would’ve thought Cardinals/Royals would have had a name, but I didn’t see anything. I guess MLB would rather be deep in the cold, cold ground before they recognize Missouri! Braves/Red Sox, Diamondbacks/Rockies, Tigers/Blue Jays and Twins/Brewers round out the unnamed rivalries. Can’t wait for next year!
