Major League Baseball rivalries
Rivalries have arisen for many different reasons, the primary ones including geographic proximity, familiarity with opponents, various incidents, and cultural, linguistic, or national pride.
"[26] Games between the two teams often generate a great deal of interest and get extensive media coverage, including being broadcast on national television.
Though both teams are charter members of the American League, the rivalry did not begin in earnest until the 2000s, when the White Sox and Twins consistently battled for the AL Central crown.
Their most prominent meeting occurred in the 2008 American League Central tie-breaker game, which was necessitated by the two clubs finishing the season with identical records.
During the 2004 season, both teams came down to the wire: tied for wins headed into the final week of September with the last three games being played in Oakland against the Angels.
[50] Both teams were battling to secure the lowest remaining wild card spot, however; Oakland fell in 2 losses to the Angels with only one victory in the series coming in the final game.
Oakland found themselves eliminated from the playoff hunt, though the Angels suffered a sweep at the hands of the eventual champion Boston Red Sox.
[52] The feuds go back to two incidents between Angels second baseman Adam Kennedy and Rangers catcher Gerald Laird which led to punches being thrown.
While fairly recent, as the teams have rarely met historically before interleague play due to the Astros originally being in the National League, the Astros–Yankees rivalry has taken over baseball.
The rivalry's fierceness would return during the 2022 season, when both teams competed for the NL East division title and first-round bye, with the Braves eventually coming out on top.
[93] Games between the two teams at Citi Field and Citizens Bank Park are often very intense, hard-hitting affairs, as each home crowd does its best to create an unfriendly, sometimes volatile atmosphere for any visiting-team fans.
The rivalry quickly spiked in intensity during the 2010s after Nationals team management introduced a campaign to block Phillies fans from overtaking home games.
It began in the late 19th century when both clubs were based in New York City, with the Dodgers playing at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and the Giants at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan.
[110][111] Given that the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco have long been competitors in economic, cultural, and political arenas, the new venue in California became fertile ground for its transplantation.
For all their history, the 2021 NLDS marked the first time the two teams had ever played each other in the postseason with Los Angeles beating San Francisco in a winner-takes-all Game 5.
However, since 2020 both franchises have fielded several highly competitive teams simultaneously, resulting in five playoff appearances for Los Angeles and three for San Diego.
Off the field, the rivalry has been just as competitive, as the two teams have aggressively battled on the trade market and free agency over star players, such as Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, Max Scherzer, and Trea Turner.
After eliminating the Diamondbacks from postseason contention and clinching their division, multiple Dodgers players celebrated the win by jumping into the pool at Arizona's Chase Field.
Historically; both teams have not played in the same division; however frequent close pennant races and matchups in the postseason caused the rivalry to grow in intensity through the decades.
In December 1956, Major League owners considered a proposal by Cleveland general manager and minority-owner Hank Greenberg to implement limited interleague play beginning in 1958.
[136][137] The Mets–Yankees rivalry is the latest incarnation of the Subway Series, the competition between New York City's Major League Baseball teams, the AL Yankees and NL Mets.
[148][149] The Freeway series is extremely popular in Los Angeles and normally sells out their games due to the close proximity of both teams and their fans.
Another recent point of contention between the two fanbases occurred on December 9, 2023, when Angels’ star Shohei Ohtani signed with the Dodgers for $700 million.
The teams would ultimately face off in the World Series seven times in a 16-year span from 1941 to 1956, with the Yankees dominating; it wasn't until the sixth meeting in 1955 that the Dodgers finally broke through for their first-ever championship.
Starting in 1976, they met in the American League Championship Series for four out of the five seasons (1976-1978 and 1980), with the Yankees winning the first three, and Kansas City sweeping New York in 1980.
The rivalry continued in 1983, which featured the Pine Tar Game, in which Billy Martin requested that the umpires inspect George Brett's bat after he hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth that gave Kansas City a 4–3 advantage.
This rivalry was assisted by the presence of the Pearson Cup, an award that was given to the winner of a special midseason match (later incorporated into the MLB interleague schedule).
Originally, the term described a series of exhibition games played between the two clubs after the conclusion of spring training, immediately prior to the start of the regular season.
It was first used to refer to the 1989 World Series in which the Athletics won their most recent championship and the first time both teams had met since they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.
When the American League was formed in 1901 and the A's joined it, Lajoie was offered a contract by Frank Hough of the Athletics on behalf of A's manager Connie Mack.
