Who is the Yankees Biggest Rival Currently?

 

        Being one of the best teams in baseball, and one of the best teams of all time doesn't always come easy and many Yankee rivals have stood in the way over time. You have the obvious team in the Red Sox, and more recent teams in the Mets and Rays. But who is the Yankees biggest rival currently?

        Nothing can top two teams separated by just a subway ride like the Mets and the Yankees and that is what makes this rivalry so intense. With both teams having amazing seasons, the battle for New York becomes more intense each and every game. There has been so many great moments throughout the head to head matchups over the years although they only started recently playing each other just over 20 years ago.

        You have the 2000 World Series, the missed pop up with the bases loaded, Lindor and Stanton last year, and many more controversial moments between the crosstown teams. It's safe to say that tensions are high and the state of New York is in good hands when both of their teams are succeeding at a high level. 

        A recently new rival in the Tampa Bay Rays have been a thorn in the side for the Yanks. Just a couple years ago tensions were at an all time high when Aroldis Chapman threw a fastball over the head of Mike Brosseau and then Brosseau hit the series winning homer in the playoffs. 

        For the past 4 years, the Yankees-Rays rivalry has never been more intense as almost every game is a nail biter and always crucial towards winning division games. What also makes the Rays such a good rival to the Yanks is that they are the complete opposite of the team that the Yanks have. The Rays don't have any household names on both sides of the ball, but yet each and every year they find ways to win and get into the playoffs and thrive like they did 2 years ago in the World Series. 

         In a David vs Goliath situation the Rays are like David versus the Yankees in Goliath and somehow they find ways to prevail against the big and powerful Yankees ball club. The Rays are based solely off of analytics and for Yankee fans including myself it is always very annoying whenever they lose to the Rays because usually analytics don't outweigh talent, but for the Rays it does.

        Finally the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox have been bitter rivals with the Yanks for over 100 years. From the Babe to the 2004 ALCS to Rodriguez and Varitek, this rivalry has it all. After the Red Sox broke the curse of the bambino, the rivalry started to heat up as the Red Sox got competitive again. The Red Sox have been the victors in the previous playoff series over the Yankees, but whenever these two teams meet there is always a storyline.

        In my opinion there's no doubt in my mind that the Yankees have a lot of rivals and more teams than I just listed, but no matter what the storyline is, the Red Sox will always be the Yankees biggest rival. The constant brawls and intensity makes this rivalry the best in sports and whoever says Cowboys-Giants, Bears-Packers, or Giants-Dodgers is better, you are totally wrong nothing can ever top Boston vs New York.