Giving Names and Trophies to MLB’s 2025 Rivalry Week

The MLB has already announced the upcoming schedule for the 2025 season.

While that date doesn’t even sound real at the moment, and we’re about 60% done with the one we’re currently playing, it gives us the opportunity to already start planning trips and gives us a couple of new wrinkles and announcements to look forward to.

One of these was introducing something the NBA has also recently adopted to get us to create appointment television during the regular season: introducing a “Rivalry Week” that will take place in May. 

Most of the rivalries are based on geography rather than history, as we get Yankees, Mets, and, most notably, Braves-Red Sox as the most questionable pairings. However, baseball is in need of actual traditional rivalries coming back rather than the fake stand-offs where the “unwritten rules” are broken, and someone passive-aggressively throws a pitch at someone only for the bullpens to jog from the outfield to home plate and stick their chests out.

What makes rivalries special is that most of the time, they are built up by accident, and somehow, traditions are adopted and bought into. That’s what college athletics does better than any other league- somehow, an accidental event happened that generated animosity, and now there’s a silly name and an absurd trophy to go along with a rivalry that instills hatred between fanbases.

Some rivalries already have a nickname and a trophy, but based on the upcoming 2025 Rivalry Week matchups, let’s create both a name and an ideal trophy for each rivalry.

Rangers vs. Astros: Battle for the Silver Boot

The Trophy: Silver Boots (WEARABLE)

This heated rivalry already exists, but we need someone like Adolis Garcia celebrating by wearing the trophy boots and stomping on home plate after a victory.

Cubs vs. White Sox: Crosstown Classic

The Trophy: A golden Chicago-style hotdog, but the bun is in the shape of the Chicago Bean

It’s a hodgepodge homage to the Windy City in the battle of the Northside vs. the Southsiders.

Angels vs. Dodgers: Freeway Series

The Trophy: A Hollywood Walk of Fame Star

The trophy has a more positive connotation than a nickname because of how awful the traffic is. It takes four hours to leave the stadium.

Pirates vs. Phillies: Bread Basket Battle

The Trophy: A cornucopia filled with Pennsylvania things

Pennsylvania is the heart of the bread basket region! Fill up an absurd basket with a key for the Keystone State, a baseball bat, a glove, and maybe even a Liberty Bell and a pirate telescope in there, too!

Cardinals vs. Royals: Midwest Mayhem

The Trophy: A golden key that also functions as a baseball bat

The I-70 Series is already a lackluster nickname relating to a highway. Since the Arch and this region are the “Gate to the Midwest,” this giant, bat-sized key goes to that gate!

Nationals vs. Orioles: Beltway Series

The Trophy: A golden oar

Perfect for the Chesapeake Bay region.

Braves vs. Red Sox: Coastal Cudgel Clash

The Trophy: A giant navy hammer

There isn’t history with these rivals aside from both being named the Braves once in large markets- with it being a matter of who the team that was the superior “Brave” that wielded a cudgel once, a hammer that has both teams’ colorway involved might be fun and absurd in a B1G football kind of way that clashes two very different regions.

Twins vs. Brewers: The Midwest Microbrew

The Trophy: A golden mug (drinkable)

Two midwest cities that can brew, eat cheese and meat, and tailgate like no other by the lake, we need a golden mug they can celebrate with after the game.

Rays vs. Marlins: Citrus Series

The Trophy: A golden cup that gets filled up with orange juice, Stanley Cup-style

The battle for the orange state needs absurd Florida orange juice celebrations.

Guardians vs. Reds: Ohio Cup

The Trophy: The same trophy, filled with buckeyes

PHOTO: WikiCommons

The Ohio cup trophy already is phenomenal with the bats surrounding the cup, but having a buckeye bath for the buckeye state would be the piece de resistance.

Tigers vs. Blue Jays: Great Lakes Cup

The Trophy: A silver trophy with a fishing rod crossing a baseball bat

Two Great Lakes teams facing off might be the only history here, but there’s a lot of potential with some fishing-related celebrations.

Rockies vs. Diamondbacks: Southwest Showdown

The Trophy: Rockies win: jar of sand; Diamondbacks win: Giant fossil

This one involved some creativity and could go back to the culture of high school sports- where one team steals your beloved property if victorious.

Should Colorado win, they steal the jar of sand from the Diamondbacks of the Desert and get to retain it all season.

Should the Diamondbacks win, they take away a giant dinosaur fossil that’s an homage to Dinger the Dinosaur mascot since they found fossils when constructing Coors Field in Denver. There’s pride in keeping what’s yours.

Mariners vs. Padres: Pacific Punks Trophy

The Trophy: Giant golden skateboard

Another one with no true history behind it, both cities have a culture of “punk rebellion” in some form or fashion. Seattle is home to the hipster grunge scene and flannels, and San Diego is home to the barbarian surf and SoCal skate scene.

Both cities also have a chip on their shoulder and are often in the shadow of LA. A giant golden skateboard would play into that culture in the same way that it was fantastic when someone got an actual life-size surfboard at the Teen Choice Awards.

A’s (we think?) vs. Giants: Danny Ocean’s Bay Bridge Series

The Trophy: A trophy with a bridge, but the pavement is playing cards

If the A’s are in Vegas like they say they will be, they’re leaving behind the classic Bay Bridge series and disrespecting one of the greatest regional rivalries in the sport.

If we have to Vegas-ify it, maybe it’s film icon Danny Ocean from Ocean’s Eleven stealing the rivalry from us and acquiring the naming rights to what should never have been taken away from us in the first place.

PHOTO: SportsLogos.net