Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees: Most Overhyped Series Every Year

When it comes to rivalries in baseball, none is bigger than the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

But this series is the most overly hyped series every year by MLB, ESPN and fans of both teams.

ESPN commercials tout Yankees-Red Sox matchups on baseball's biggest stage (Sunday Night Baseball). But is every Yankees-Red Sox series worth being featured in the national spotlight?

With how watered down the playoff race has been between the teams over the last few years, there's been no excitement to the games for those outside of New York and Boston.

Until this year, there's been no incentive for one team to challenge for the division title, as it was generally those two teams representing the American League East in the playoffs.

This year should provide a little more excitement with the new playoff system, as both teams are going to want to win the division to avoid the one-game playoff to make the divisional round.

Still, there's more to baseball than Yankees and Red Sox.

It gets old when every time they play, they're being featured on ESPN and Fox, when there are other great games going on that deserve to be played on national television.

On Saturday, they'll be featured on Fox. I know, big surprise.

On Sunday, the two teams will meet on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.

But, there are series just as good going on, in my opinion. You have Texas-Detroit, Atlanta-Arizona and San Francisco-New York Mets set to go off on Sunday.

Now, I'll admit that I'm an ardent baseball fan, and I appreciate the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.

But I'd like to see more games and more teams featured on ESPN.

National outlets feature this game like it's the best thing since sliced bread. It's overhyped.

Currently, the teams will meet twice on Sunday Night Baseball, with two more Sunday games between them likely to be put into the same slot.

Granted, most players would prefer not to be playing in the Sunday night game so that they can travel to their next destination in a reasonable amount of time.

But having the Red Sox and Yankees constantly shown when they play each other gets old.

For once, I'd like to see another series featured during a Red Sox-Yankees series.

Just my opinion, though.

Chris Stephens is a featured columnist for the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals on Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @chris_stephens6.