Rivalries are the greatest thing about sports. Some rivalries are about two titans facing off to see who comes out on top. Other rivalries are strictly about proximity, bringing a “this city isn’t big enough for the both of us” energy. Many rivalries started with one incident or one series, and they just continued for decades after that.
New rivalries are building every year. The defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers anger new teams every year. Their rivalries can be intense, as well.
Interleague play allows for rivalries, especially intra-city rivalries, to grow even more. The cities of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles each have two teams, which often play at least once per season. That allows these rivalries to build momentum.
However, the best rivalries that baseball has to offer have been around for decades, maybe even centuries. Think about football and basketball. Most of those rivalries go back to the 1970s at best. Baseball rivalries started before World War I. And some have their best days behind them, but others are just getting warmed up.
10. Houston Astros vs. Everybody (but mainly the New York Yankees)
The Houston Astros angered a lot of teams and players when it came out that they were cheating on their way to a World Series win in 2017. The team would use a sophisticated system (sense the sarcasm) of using video to steal signs and relay the pitch to the dugout. Then, someone would bang on a trash can to reveal if the pitch coming would be a fastball or a breaking ball.
This gave the Astros a leg up in the playoffs. That specifically angered the teams they beat along the way. The Astros beat the Red Sox, Yankees, and Dodgers on their way to a World Series championship. The Sox thought they had a championship-worthy roster that season. New York took the Astros to Game 7, so any advantage swung the series to the other team. The Dodgers also took the Stros to Game 7. Both the Yankees and Dodgers were trying to get back to their championship expectations.
When the scandal broke in November 2019, the sports world was appalled. Cheating in sports has kept all-time greats out of the Hall of Fame, erased championships from history, and removed people in power from their jobs. Most think the Astros got a wrist slap for such an egregious act. They didn’t have to forfeit any wins. The players were given immunity, and the manager and general manager seemed to get the brunt of the punishment (one-year suspensions for each).
Still to this day, Jose Altuve, who was a star on that team, is booed at Yankee Stadium. Dodgers Stadium is not very nice to the Astros, either, although it has been better since they started winning their own World Series. They got the 2010 LeBron James treatment when fans returned in 2021.
9. Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cincinnati Reds
So many fans are going to look at this “rivalry” with a puzzled look. However, this might be the oldest continued rivalry in baseball. They first faced off on May 2, 1882. Since then, they have played more than 2,500 games against each other, both teams hold five World Series titles, and they have a combined 18 National League pennants. These franchises are incredibly similar, and that often brings consternation between teams.
These two teams suffered from inconsistency for the first 50 years of the 20th century. There weren’t too many times when one had to walk over the other to get places, but that changed with the expansion of the playoffs.
The league went from two teams playing in the playoffs (the World Series) to adding two more teams in what would be a league championship series. That entered the conversation in 1969, and it didn’t take long for the Reds and Pirates to face off. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh were opponents in the 1970 NLCS. They would go on to face off in the 1972, 1975, and 1979 NLCS. This was the premier rivalry of the 70s.
The Pirates had to overcome the Reds to really show they were a top team in the league. They did win the World Series in 1971, but the Reds didn’t make the playoffs. The Pirates lost in 70, 72, and 75, finally getting their win in 1979 when Willie Stargell put the team on his back in order to beat their rivals. They would face off again in the 1990 NLCS, where the Reds went to yet another World Series. Pittsburgh rekindled the rivalry in the 2013 Wild Card Game, where the Pirates eliminated the Reds.
8. Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Diego Padres
The cities of San Diego and Los Angeles have their own little rivalry as cities. The southernmost area in California, San Diego is considered more for its beaches and perfect weather, while Los Angeles is this bustling metropolis where all dreams can come true. It’s a surfer lifestyle versus NYC West Coast. With that, a rivalry is born.
The San Diego Padres are the lone representative for that city, as both the NBA’s Clippers and NFL’s Chargers left for LA. There’s now a pride surrounding the Padres, and the Dodgers represent everything that was taken away from them. That animosity bleeds into the baseball field, as Padres players seem to take pride in taking down the guys from up I-5.
This has always been a rivalry built on disrespect. The Dodgers constantly denounce this rivalry. They say the rivalry “isn’t real.” That changed recently. The Padres are competing with the Dodgers for the biggest and best players. They even saw players go on both sides of the rivalry, including Blake Snell, Manny Machado, and Yu Darvish.
The rivalry was undeniable after the Padres eliminated the Dodgers in 2022. After losing Game 1 of the NLDS, the Padres went on a run to win three-straight games and knock their rivals out of the playoffs. The Padres finished the season 22 games back of the Dodgers, but they eliminated them in relatively easy fashion. Manny Machado hit a home run in the first inning of Game 2 off of Clayton Kershaw, and the series changed from there. In Game 4, the Padres scored five runs in the seventh inning, finished off by a Juan Soto steal and run. The Dodgers lost what looked like their best team in the first round of the playoffs. They would get it back by winning a five-game series in 2024, which might have been the most fun series of the playoffs, but 2022 still lives in infamy.
7. Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox
This rivalry might have the fewest games between them of any on this list, but here’s what is absolutely crazy, the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox are tied in their head-to-head matchup. The Cubs have won 79 games, and the White Sox have won 79 games.
This rivalry was always on the docket, as they had one of the first examples of interleague play. From 1903 until 1942, the Cubs and White Sox played each other in a best-of-seven postseason City Series unless one or the other was playing in the World Series. Can you imagine if the Yankees and Mets just decided to play a best-of-seven series at the end of this year, ignoring their regular season and postseason record and just playing for city dominance?
The Cubs and White Sox franchises have played in the postseason once. It was more than 100 years ago when they met in the 1906 World Series. The Cubs were supposed to wipe the floor with their cross-town rivals, boasting a 116-win season coming in. The White Sox used veteran pitching to shut down the Cubs, winning the title in six games.
This rivalry feels like typical Chicago. It’s a tale of two cities, with the status of the North Side going up against the gritty South Side. Both have seen relative recent success, with the White Sox winning a World Series in 2005 and the Cubs ending their curse in 2016, but we need the White Sox to get good again because it’s been way too long since the city ground to a halt for one of the best rivalries in the World Series.
6. Oakland Athletics vs. San Francisco Giants
We’re not entirely sure about the future of this rivalry with the Athletics leaving Oakland and not entirely clear where they will call home (we think it will be Las Vegas?), but the history of this rivalry deserves its spot on the list. Once known as the Bay Bridge Series, the Giants and A’s often had great teams which led to incredible games.
This actually started as a completely different but natural rivalry: Philadelphia versus New York. These two faced off in three World Series matchups, with the Giants taking the 1905 title and the A’s winning in 1911 and 1913. Both sides had crazy talent at the time, including 11 Hall of Famers.
At one point, the A’s and Giants would finish off their Spring Training schedule with a few games against their cross-bay rivals, kicking off the season with some well-earned competition. They finally faced off in their new homes during the 1989 World Series. This is, of course, the famous World Series that was interrupted by an earthquake that hit 6.9 on the Richter Scale. The Bay Bridge collapsed due to the quake, but officials say that since many were either at the game or home watching the Series, there were fewer commuters on the bridge and therefore fewer victims.
The A’s ended up winning the series 4-0. That was the only time the two have met on the West Coast, but they’ve had great games in interleague play. Then, there’s the off-the-field rivalry. The Giants took ace Barry Zito from the A’s, and it ended up being one of the most infamous contracts in baseball. The A’s tried to relocate to San Jose, but rumors state that the Giants blocked it because they consider that “San Francisco territory.” We hope to see more of this rivalry wherever the A’s end up.
5. St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs
The rivalries prior to this could be intense, but we’re starting to enter “I root for my team to win, and my rival’s to lose” territory. The Cubs and Cardinals fans do not like each other. We imagine relationships have been ended just by learning one or the other roots for the “wrong” team.
The Cubs and Cardinals have met in the postseason 17 times, and they are somehow tied. They both are 8-8-1. Let’s talk about that “1” real quick. This series began as a business rivalry, with economic trade between the cities of Chicago and St. Louis at the center of it. This led to the formation of the St. Louis Brown Stockings (who would later change their name to the Cardinals, thank goodness). They faced off in the 1885 World Series, and in Game 2, St. Louis protested a call by the umpire by leaving the game in the sixth inning and refusing to play. The league called the game for the then-White Stockings, but the Brown Stockings protested the decision. The two teams agreed to call the Series a tie and split the prize.
After facing off again in the 1886 World Series (which St. Louis won outright), they didn’t face off again until 2015. That season, the Cubs took out the top-seeded Cardinals. It was the first time ever the Cubs got to celebrate a series win at Wrigley Field, when they defeated the Cards 6-4 in Game 4.
The lack of postseason connection has not stopped this rivalry from heating up. There have been fights between players and fans, and some of the coolest moments in baseball. Ryne Sandberg put his name on the map with a two-home run game against the Cards in 1984, and the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run chase brought baseball back to life. Like the Cubs' other rivalry, we hope the Cardinals return to relevance, as this rivalry needs more focus.
4. New York Mets vs. New York Yankees
While the New York Mets might now have the time of service that some of the other teams on this list might have, they have not lost time when it comes to their rivalry with the New York Yankees. Everything about this rivalry is interesting, with the Yankees playing in the Bronx and the Mets playing in Queens, two very different boroughs of the same city.
When the Mets first came into the league, looking to take on some of the fans of the departed Dodgers and Giants, the Yankees agreed to play in a yearly exhibition for the Mayor’s Trophy. The last time they played for the Mayor’s Trophy was 1983. The games would help grow baseball in the city, especially sandlot baseball, with proceeds going to the Amateur Baseball Federation.
Niceties aside, these two teams have a lot of lost love for each other. The Subway Series is the typical “big brother-little brother” dynamic. The Yankees are Darth Vader. They are inevitable, while the Mets play as the Little Engine that could. That was the narrative in the 2000 World Series. The Yankees entered looking to solidify a dynasty, but the Mets were looking to set the stage for a new era of baseball in New York City. In the end, the Evil Empire stood tall, taking out the Mets in five games.
Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza centered this rivalry for a long time, with Clemens famously throwing a broken bat Piazza’s way, and the Mets trying to hit Clemens with a pitch in 2002. There seemed to be a brief pause in the rivalry when Yankees fan favorite Willie Randolph became their manager, but the hate was back on when he was fired in 2008. Now, the rivalry surrounds Juan Soto, who left the Yankees last offseason to sign a $765 million contract in Queens.
3. New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies
We briefly mentioned the Philadelphia-New York Rivalry with the A’s and Giants, but this picked back up when the Mets joined the league in the 1960s. Things hit a fever point in the 1980s, when both teams were playing incredibly well, and that didn’t lead to much sportsmanship between the two. There were multiple fights between these two clubs, and Mets fans even got arrested during games in Philadelphia later in the decade.
However, things slowed down in the 1990s and early 2000s. That changed in the 2005 offseason. The Mets signed Billy Wagner away from the Phillies, and he had some not nice things to say on his way out. Phillies legend Pat Burrell snapped back through the media, and it intensified things between the two. Burrell actually hit two home runs off of Wagner in 2007, causing him to have blown saves.
That ended up being very important. With 17 games left in the 2007 season, the Mets led the Phillies by seven games. On paper, it’s an insurmountable lead. However, the Mets faltered down the stretch, and the Phillies went 13-4, stealing the NL East on the final day of the season. It was the first Phillies division win in 14 years.
Even after the Phillies won the 2008 World Series, Jimmy Rollins was talking smack about the Mets at the celebration parade, saying that trading for Johan Santana wasn’t enough to beat them for the division. In 2023, now-Mets owner Steve Cohen made the team rework a jersey sponsor because they had “Phillies colors.” The next season, the Mets and Phillies faced in the playoffs for the first time, with the Mets winning the NLDS 3-1, ending what Philadelphia thought was a championship pursuit.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants
There are two rivalries that are undoubtedly the tops in baseball history. The rivalry between the Dodgers and Giants goes back centuries, encompasses three different cities, and has decided who wins the World Series on multiple occasions. In fact, the Giants moved to San Francisco because of the rivalry with the Dodgers. They were at first considering a move to Minnesota.
The cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco already had a rivalry for economic and political reasons; it was a natural rivalry between their baseball teams. These two teams breed success, with the Dodgers winning 26 pennants and the Giants winning 23.
This rivalry was insane in the 1960s, with most teams looking to beat the other to win the pennant. It ALWAYS came down to September, like in 1959 when the Dodgers swept the Giants in the final series of the season to advance to a playoff with the Braves, or in 1965 when the Dodgers won 15 of their final 16 games to beat out the Giants by two games. They even faced off in a three-game playoff after finishing the 1962 season tied, which the Giants won.
Fast-forward to today, and these franchises continue to compete. The Dodgers are a franchise with seemingly unlimited funds, and the Giants are trying to create new stars to keep up.
1. New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox
We don’t care where baseball ranks in the sports pantheon; the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are still the greatest rivalry in the history of sports. It seems like it comes to fruition every single year, and the moments in this rivalry are historic. It obviously started with Babe Ruth forcing his way out of Boston and becoming the biggest legend in sports with the Yankees. That move led to the Yankees becoming the Yankees.
So much has happened from then until now. There was the fight in Fenway Park, where Thurman Munson laid out Carlton Fisk in a run-scoring attempt. There was the rivalry between Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, reigniting this rivalry back after both teams looked to win more championships. Bucky freaking Dent, Bernie Williams walking off, countless fights, and even more moments that made the rivalry must-see for the entire existence of these teams.
But the two years that define this rivalry are 2003 and 2004. Just study what happened there, and you’ll get the gist. Just in those two years, we saw Pedro Martinez chuck a 72-year-old man to the ground during a bases-clearing brawl, Dave Roberts stealing second, the Bloody Sock, Pedro calling the Yankees his “daddy,” Theo Epstein over Gene Michael, the Alex Rodriguez trade, ARod’s fight with Jason Varitek, and his attempt to knock the ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s glove. Most fans know what all of these are, but the two moments that mean the most were Aaron Boone’s home run to send the Yankees to the 2003 World Series, and the Red Sox coming back from down 3-0 in 2004 to win the series in Game 7 and breaking the Curse of the Bambino.
The Yankees and Red Sox came back in 2025 in the playoffs, with the most epic three-game series of the year. It was an incredible back-and-forth affair, with the Yankees finally getting one over on the Red Sox. These two teams will continue to be two of the best in the league, and baseball is better when this rivalry means something.