The Ohio State-Michigan Dynamic of Baseball

They say the most valuable currency in sports fandom is hope, but often, the most abundant is… hate.

In the sports world last week, the headlines were dominated by the contrast in mindsets toward THE game: Ohio State vs. Michigan. Considered maybe the best rivalry on American soil, some of the new faces involved have revealed two entirely different viewpoints on the game.

Michigan has hired a new coach, Kyle Whittingham, and before he’s even played a single game for the maize and blue, he’s already downplayed the game’s importance, saying “hate” is a strong word and it can be emotional without it. Whittingham is no stranger to the importance of rivalry games, coming from Utah and playing in the Holy War with an 11-6 record to show for it. His calm demeanor is a big part of what made his Utah program so cool and consistent the last two decades. Still, he essentially told the students and alumni that do some of the most insane things because this is more important than anything else to them that they’re nuts and should tone it down before building up equity. 

Following that quote, the Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood, who is:

• Not a local Michigan guy
• 5-star quarterback purchased from LSU for $10 million
• Went 9-4 last year and LOST to Ohio State last year

Went on record and said that it was “just another game.” That’s not exactly inspiring confidence from a 5-star who needs to ball out this year to elevate his standing with the fan base and the league as a whole!

Meanwhile, Ohio State loses sleep at night over how much it hates Michigan despite having more recent consistent success. They don’t use the letter M. There were serious conversations about firing Ryan Day because he lost the game to maybe one of the worst Michigan teams in 2024 by getting into his own head and looking like he had his soul sucked out of his body the year he still won the National Championship. Julian Sayin took the opposite approach, calling Underwood a California game and saying this game even “becomes your own livelihood”!

Sometimes that hatred is the fuel you need to perform; other times it gets in your head. Sometimes the “I don’t think about you at all” from Mad Men approach keeps you cool, calm, and collected and makes you feel far too good to stoop to the other side’s level; other times it makes you not recognize the importance of the moment. As long as fans know you care and acknowledge you need to perform for them, that’s what they ask.

The state of rivalries in baseball is in a bit of an odd spot because a lot of the wars between the unwritten rules, with bean-ball and bat-flipping, have gone by the wayside, as well as we have one massive conglomerate dominating the state of the league, but we’re going to play a little who’s who here.

In the state of rivalries of baseball, who takes the Ohio State approach and who takes the Michigan?

Dodgers vs… the Entire NL West

• Dodgers // Michigan
• NL West // Ohio State

The Dodgers are the bar for the entirety of the league. They’re aware in how they manage injuries and their roster that they truly just want to get their veterans ready for October- it’s why veterans like Mookie and Freddie don’t ever have a week where they go scorched earth, it’s why Shohei Ohtani has been increasingly playing both ways less, and it’s why they have the freedom to tell Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell to take all the time they need. Right now, they’re a Wild Card team, and no one really seems to be worried; you know who is not on their minds right now? The Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, or the Colorado Rockies.

San Diego already has the “underrated middle child” syndrome of being the actual, cooler surfer town that had their football team moved to LA, so for the Dodgers to be the big brother, it’s no wonder AJ Preller feels the need to make as many moves as they do, and why Manny Machado hates them with their postseason history. The Diamondbacks and Giants have gone out and tried to spend much more frequently to keep pace and throw punches as a plucky wild card, and the Rockies have had their entire week made just by taking a series from the Dodgers.

The dynamic is clear. The rest of the NL West has to have that Ohio State hatred and know you’re going to play a lot of games against a titan.

Yankees vs Red Sox

• Yankees // Michigan
• Red Sox // Ohio State

THE historic rivalry of baseball is Yankees-Red Sox, and the relationship couldn’t be clearer. The Yankees are the “Tiffany” franchise that gets to drop the “27 rings, bro” that stole Babe Ruth and got to laugh at Boston for so long and still wants to treat it as any other game (aside from Massachusetts native Cam Schlittler, who has transferred that Boston-level vitriol towards the Red Sox now like a Space Jam suction) and focus on playing for rings. Going back to overcoming the 3-0 deficit, beating the Yankees is everything to the Red Sox.

There are “Yankees Suck!” chants at events not including the Yankees. No one is more giddy than FOX analyst David Ortiz dropping a “DAAAAA YANKEES LOSE!” This season, the Sox turning their year around and creeping up behind almighty Judge and the Yanks in the standings puts another level of focus on Boston to show up the Bronx Bombers and possibly get home-field advantage in the postseason.

Cubs vs Brewers

• Cubs // Michigan
• Brewers // Ohio State

Now this one is quite compelling because if you look at the standings the past several years, it’s far and away been the Milwaukee Brewers’ invitation ahead of October; that’s how dominant the Brew Crew have been, and the Cubs and the rest of the division have done nothing but look up. However, from a vitriol standpoint, the Brewers get a little extra fiery towards the Cubs with some much-needed hate in their heart from an organizational standpoint. We’re talking about two teams separated by about an hour; Craig Counsell LEFT the Brewers to go join the “marquee franchise” and be the highest-paid manager, and the darling Cubs that got to break their streak constantly have camera shots of random intruders that commuted from Chicago to Milwaukee to fly that W flag.

The Cubs have had to take aim at the Brewers, but are so in the Cub bubble that it doesn’t resonate near as much as the joy it gives Milwaukee to operate as a smaller-market, overlooked team across town that has just been plain better that no one has noticed.

Phillies vs Braves

• Braves // Michigan
• Phillies // Ohio State

The Braves have had to operate as the standard- the extension contracts that they gave out to this core going back to even before the 2021 World Series show a belief that they’re far and away one of the best-run teams in baseball for the long run and trust their process to compete with anyone. The Phillies, and the city of Philadelphia as a whole, need the chip on their shoulder and the hate in their heart to be able to perform.

This season alone, they fired their manager, insulted Bryce Harper’s elite status, and started winning. It’s even powered their recent matchups in the postseason, where the Braves were the 100-win team heavily favored against them before the Braves knocked ‘em out. Orlando Arcia had even dropped the “Atta boy, Harper!” as if the MVP wasn’t even on the Braves’ level. From a dynamic standpoint, it may be the closest we’ve had to Ohio State-Michigan.

Astros vs Rangers

• Astros // Michigan
• Rangers // Ohio State

The intensity has dropped off as the heat of this rivalry in 2023 has excessively died down, where the Rangers arguably caught lightning in a bottle with that World Series run to eliminate a decade of Houston American League dominance, but it’s going to take a long time for the league-wide hatred of the trash-can era Astros to die down.

For the Rangers to be an in-state rival that got to punch up at an organization that was as consistent as it gets, there’s an Ohio State-level hatred there. In contrast, the Astros just worry about the Astros, want to succeed without being accused of cheating, and need to prove they’re still one of the AL Standards. Alex Bregman’s and Adolis Garcia’s are gone, but the fan bases within the geography still exhibit the same dynamic.