MLB Rivalry Weekend Series: How Much Do We Acknowledge Them?

Did you know that MLB Rivalry Weekend occurred last weekend?

You probably would not have if you didn’t have social media.

There’s no Yankees-Red Sox. There’s no Dodgers-Giants. There’s no Cubs-Cardinals. And they dare to call it Rivalry Weekend to try to generate some event-level viewing at the beginning of the season.

With league-wide interleague matchups now, maybe a few of these will catch on, and we get some ridiculous trophies for each game like a B1G College football rivalry. The problem is that interleague play is still fairly new, which knocks the history, a lot of these are manufactured merely by geography, and many of them are one-sided or possibly against the third-hated team amongst the fan base to the point where they don’t actually care.

The most ridiculous one is, by far, the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners having one based on a musician who does not even care about either team and uses a guitar as a trophy, so we’ll start there.

Let’s scale out the 15 rivalry weekend matchups and group them based on both animosity and how much we care.

THE “OKAY WE ARE GRASPING AT STRAWS HERE, I’LL ADMIT” GROUP

15) San Diego Padres vs Seattle Mariners AKA the Vedder Cup

Eddie Vedder is a Cubs fan who used to live in both of these cities, and that’s the furthest extent of this rivalry. Yet there’s a name for it. The moment we get an expansion franchise in Portland, this thing is done for.

14) Atlanta Braves vs Boston Red Sox

These teams both used to be the Beaneaters and are blue bloods, I guess? There’s a Chris Sale connection now? If anything, they both have a “the enemy of the enemy is my friend” complex with the Yankees! Mike Yazstremski getting a homer against his old man’s club was pretty sweet, though.

THE “WE’RE JUST CLOSE” GROUP

13) Milwaukee Brewers vs Minnesota Twins

What’s your favorite Brewers-Twins moment? These two are some of the most well-mannered, nice fan bases in baseball, and we’re getting the nickname “THE BORDER BATTLE”!

12) Miami Marlins vs Tampa Bay Rays

This has to be a battle between the two lowest-attendance rates between fan bases. This only earns bonus points because the name “Citrus Series” in Florida is actually awesome. They also, for some reason, are frequent trade partners- a revenge game for Nick Fortes and Pete Fairbanks?

11) Colorado Rockies vs Arizona Diamondbacks

I mean, at least they’re in the division, and both have employed Nolan Arenado.

10) Detroit Tigers vs Toronto Blue Jays

The Tigers and Blue Jays are close in proximity and were division rivals in the 80s, and I guess have shared pitchers throughout recent history, with Max Scherzer and David Price, as well as both teams contending in the AL this era. That’s about it.

9) Cincinnati Reds vs Cleveland Guardians

It kind of feels like not many people even brand this the “Ohio Cup” as much as it needs to be. Ohioans are always down for a fight and take pride in their city, thinking about things like the Bengals and Browns and, in general, how much sports mean to this region, though. And, now there’s the Terry Francona connection.

THE “IT’S PRETTY ONE-SIDED HERE, DON’T YOU THINK?” GROUP

8) Los Angeles Dodgers vs Los Angeles Angels

The Angels are unfortunately the sweet boy that the beautiful woman, Shohei Ohtani, left to be with the guy that drives the Porsche, the Dodgers. The Freeway Series at least has some vitriol from that perspective, and historically, the unloved stepchild complex always plays.

7) Baltimore Orioles vs Washington Nationals

The Beltway series is great regionally, but it hasn’t really had any “moments” because both teams have never been in contention at the same time and have never played games with stakes at all.

6) San Francisco Giants vs Las Vegas/OAKLAND Athletics

What a bummer that the A’s are now misplaced in a minor league stadium as they wait to be taken away from Oakland forever. The Bay Bridge Series is no longer.

5) St. Louis Cardinals vs Kansas City Royals

This one theoretically SHOULD have more stakes and will be a blast going forward with young stud shortstops on both teams in Wetherholt and Witt Jr., but for the most part, going back to the 80’s, it kina just feels like it’s Royals fans that hate the Cardinals. The tarps off crew, I’m sure, only elevated that venom.

THE “OKAY, NOW THERE’S SOME ACTUAL ANIMOSITY HERE” GROUP

4) Texas Rangers vs Houston Astros

It’s long been known as the Lone Star Series or the Silver Boot Series, but this one picked up a lot of steam recently, with both teams competitive interdivision rivals again, competing in the ALCS and for division titles. Both have World Series titles within the last decade. Both took a plethora of verbal jabs at each other when contending in high stakes postseason games with Corey Seager and Alex Bregman trading the “I guess we’ll never know!” quotes.

The franchises definitely don’t like each other actively, but it’s just a bummer that both are in the midst of underwhelming seasons thus far, and most of the faces from the peak of the rivalry are gone.

3) New York Mets vs New York Yankees

There’s a lot of pride that comes from the Subway Series, as picking your New York fandom defines you. For the most part, it’s the Mets fans hating the Yankees and the Yankees sort of laughing at the Mets‘ misfortune, but there is now the Juan Soto drama since he left the Yanks for the Mets across the street for the almighty Steve Cohen dollar.

It’s a little brother complex, but the Mets are now so rich that they can punch above their weight occasionally. They’re last in the division, and suddenly the streets feel like they have life because they got a signature series win, and the Yankees probably won’t think about it.

2) Pittsburgh Pirates vs Philadelphia Phillies

For some of us, it’s the P00P game that emerges on the scorebug that we giggle at like middle school boys. For the blue-collar, rust-belt citizens of Pennsylvania, it’s personal. Think of Eagles-Steelers games. Think of Flyers-Penguins games. There is legitimate pride and stakes between some of the hardest-nosed fan bases in all of sports that would both actively embrace it as a compliment if you were to call any of them a “scumbag fan base.”

It’s a clash of cultures in that while they’re both in the same state, they’re so far apart that there’s vitriol towards what is going on on “the other side,” where Philly has more in common with New York, and Pittsburgh is practically the Midwest. The issue- we’ve not had many games with stakes yet. But think about the potential going forward: Wheeler and Sanchez against Skenes and Keller in postseason games that actually matter if the Buccos keep this up. We need some October baseball between these teams where they’re bundled up, drinking cocoa, and brawling in the stands.

1) Chicago Cubs vs Chicago White Sox

It has not mattered that this is interleague, and it won’t ever matter that this is interleague—the Northside vs the Southside in the Crosstown Cup. The fans don’t like each other. The players don’t like each other (never forget the AJ Pierzynski punch!), and for the first time in 18 years, both teams were above .500 this year, and the series was 77-75 going into it.

The Cubs have had World Series expectations, and the White Sox are the team playing with their hair on fire with the 3 slugging trio of Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery, and Miguel Vargas. There were warring chants where the Cubs fans invading Rate Field would yell “PCA!” only to try to be drowned out by a “Let’s Go, White Sox!”

There were moments where even the entirety of the fan bases randomly united in a “Packers Suck” chant. How can you not be romantic about this rivalry?

Now that we’re getting this year after year, both have momentum going forward. THIS was the Rivalry Weekend series that mattered and that we’re acknowledging the most going forward.

Did you see the energy of RATE FIELD on Sunday? It’s long been considered a bit of an environmental graveyard, and a game that featured home run blow-for-blow punches and a Quero walk-off cemented that the rivalry is alive and well.