Ranking Yankees vs. Mets and the 7 Best MLB Rivalries
Mother's Day weekend in Major League Baseball was all about the pink bats, heartfelt messages for moms and nothing but good vibes around the league.
This weekend?
Much different story with no love to be found.
Taking a page from the world of college athletics, MLB's first ever "Rivalry Weekend" is on tap, cramming into three days as much geographical loathing as possible.
Chicago vs. Chicago. Los Angeles vs. Los Angeles. New York vs. New York, of course. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
The likelihood of a benches-clearing incident at some point this weekend is much higher than usual. (Not that we're rooting for a brawl. Just saying, there will be a lot of tension in the ballparks.)
In preparation for the impending no-love-lost series, no time like the present for ranking the best rivalries in baseball right now, even though only some of the best ones are actually happening this weekend.
In lieu of any sort of mathematical formula, ranking is based on how many "Jack Nicholson nodding" gifs would be elicited if the teams ended up meeting in a League Championship Series or World Series.
Honorable Mentions
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Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox: The north side / south side battle in the Windy City is the most territorial in all of baseball, but this is more of a cold war / one-sided hatred than a full-scale rivalry. Doesn't help matters that the White Sox have been hopelessly irrelevant lately. But maybe having a Pope who roots for the White Sox will somehow help the team or ignite the rivalry.
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Los Angeles Angels: Got to at least mention this one, and, believe it or not, the Angels actually lead the all-time series by a margin of 75-73. But while they're separated by about 30 miles, they are proverbially in completely different zip codes as franchises these days, the Dodgers seeking a 13th consecutive trip to the postseason while the Angels are on a path to a 10th straight losing season with no end in sight.
Atlanta Braves vs. New York Mets / Philadelphia Phillies: We'll momentarily get into why these options don't pack quite as much of a punch as Mets-Phillies, but they're both close calls and always must-watch affairs.
Houston Astros vs. New York Yankees: Yankees fans most certainly hate the Astros for eliminating the Bronx Bombers in the postseason in each of 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022âwith the 2017 sign-stealing scandal an eternal point of frustration. But the Astros have a better rival on the list and the Yankees have two.
Athletics vs. San Francisco Giants: This Bay Bridge Series used to be one of the better rivalries due to its proximity, until A's owner John Fisher decided to (eventually) move the team to Las Vegas. Now, a lot of the luster is gone. But if the A's make the playoffs and end up needing to play their home games in San Francisco's Oracle Parkâsince their current home in West Sacramento isn't fit for playoff baseballâwhat a hysterical dynamic that would be.
7. Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Mets
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Next Series: June 20-22
You could throw Atlanta into the mix here, too, for what has evolved into quite the three-way hate-fest of NL East rivals who all have payrolls well north of $200M. Regardless of how you sort them, if Team A was facing Team B in the NLCS, fans of Team C would say they are rooting for a combination of whoever wins the ALCS and a giant meteor.
But while Phillies fans could take a day trip to Citi Field or Mets fans could venture a couple hours southwest to Citizens Bank Park on a whim, Atlanta isn't exactly a hop, skip and a jump away.
According to Google Maps, Wrigley Field is three miles closer to CBP than Truist Park is. And for the first 25 years of divisions in Major League Baseball (1969-93), Atlanta was actually in the NL West. [Along with the Reds. While Chicago and St. Louis were in the NL East. Good luck making sense of that one.]
That geographical factor has always fostered a little more hatred between Mets and Phillies fans than either iteration involving Braves fans.
It was when Atlanta's reign of terror atop the NL East finally ended in 2005 that Phillies-Mets really started to smolder.
Up until that point, there was no real overlap in competence. Of the six times the Mets made the postseason in their first four decades of existence (1962-2001), the Phillies averaged 90.5 losses. During that same window, the Phillies made the postseason seven times and the Mets had a .420 or worse winning percentage in six of those years.
From 2006-08, though, they had some great battles, culminating in a Phillies World Series title. And that flame was rekindled in a big way a few years ago when both teams started spending big time.
They finally met in the postseason last year for the first time with New York winning in the NLDS. And already, it looks like the battle for NL East supremacy is going to rage all season long.
6. Houston Astros vs. Texas Rangers
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Next Series: This Weekend
Compared to the deep-rooted oak trees of odiousness that some of MLB's rivalries are, the Lone Star Series is more of a dandelion of despisal that only goes back a decade.
Houston (then in the NL Central) and Texas didn't square off for the first time until the fifth year of interleague play in 2001. And though it did become a "six games per year" annual staple over those final 12 years before Houston relocated to the AL West, the two were like ships passing in the night, Texas posting a losing record when Houston made the World Series in 2005; Houston at the beginning of its tank job when Texas played in the Fall Classic in 2010 and 2011.
It wasn't until April 2015 that things started getting testy down in the heart of Texas, when Rougned Odor (one year before his much more famous and physical altercation with Jose Bautista) got into a benches-clearing war of words with catcher Hank Conger. Texas went on to win the division by a two-game margin over Houston, beginning what is now a streak of nine consecutive 162-game seasons* in which one of the two has won the AL West.
The 2023 ALCS was where this really became a rivalry, with the Rangers outlasting the Astros in a seven-game series in which the road team won all seven games, Texas planting both its literal and figurative flag in what used to be Minute Maid Park.
*The A's won the division in 2020, though Houston ousted Oakland in the ALDS.
5. Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals
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Next Series: June 23-26
Both Cubs-White Sox and Cardinals-Royals are nice little in-state rivalries taking place this weekend, easily top 5 among the matchups on tap, even with the White Sox hopelessly irrelevant this year.
But while both the White Sox and Royals view this weekend as a chance to knock a loathed rival down a peg, the Cubs and Cardinals would take more pride and joy in winning the Route 66 Rivalry games later this season.
Though St. Louis has 11 World Series rings to Chicago's three, the Cubs have actually won 52 more games than the Cardinals in the all-time head-to-head series, including winning the 2015 NLDS in their only postseason meeting since the pre-World Series days of the 1880s.
Photo finish races between the two have been curiously nonexistent for nearly a century, dating back to St. Louis edging out Chicago by two games for the 1930 NL pennant. That was the only time in the World Series era they've finished within two games of each other with either one securing a playoff spot.
The unforgettable Cubs-Cardinals chase had nothing to do with the standings and everything to do with dingers when St. Louis' Mark McGwire out-homered Chicago's Sammy Sosa 70-66 in 1998. (Though, Sosa won NL MVP almost unanimously, because the Cubs finished seven games ahead of the Cards.)
That was much more of a fun-spirited exhibition, though, and one that seemingly the entire country tuned in to watch. Normally, there's much more animosity (and fewer steroids).
4. New York Mets vs. New York Yankees
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Next Series: This Weekend
It was never explicitly stated that creating the Subway Series was the primary motivation for starting interleague play in 1997, but there's little question it was one of the top driving factors.
Up until that point, the Big Apple rivals had only met in exhibition games, squaring off for the "Mayor's Trophy" about 20 times from 1963-83. But it didn't take long at all for them to begin to loathe one another, culminating in the 2000 World Series in which Roger Clemens chucked that broken bat at Mike Piazza, only a few months after drilling him in the head and giving him a concussion.
Things haven't been anywhere near that heated (on the field, at least) in the more than two decades since Shawn Estes tried to hit Clemens with a pitch in 2002.
That could change in a huge way this weekend, though, with one wayward pitch in the direction of Juan Soto.
Steve Cohen winning that offseason bidding warâand the subsequent scuttlebutt about the decision coming down to the Mets being willing to offer a suite for Soto's family to (safely) attend gamesâput some serious rumblings into what had been a dormant volcano, and we could be one HBP away from an eruption.
At any rate, it will be interesting to see how the bleacher creatures handle Soto's return to the Bronx. Could set the stage for something of a 15-year war every time these clubs get together.
If the current East Division leaders end up meeting on the 25-year anniversary of their only previous World Series showdown, buckle up for fireworks.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Diego Padres
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Next Series: June 9-11
If we're talking all-time greatness of a rivalry, no, Dodgers-Padres can't remotely hold a candle to the top two pairings on this list, with territorial loathing in those rivalries well-established long before San Diego even got its franchise in 1969.
Heck, It wasn't until this past half-decade that the Padres were relevant with any sort of regularity. Moreover, it wasn't until 2020 that the Dodgers and Padres squared off in the postseason for the first time.
But if the 2025 LCS pairings are NYY vs. BOS in the AL and LAD vs. SDP in the NL and you made me pick just one to watch, it's the I-5 Series and it's not a tough call.
This rivalry began to blossom when San Diego began to actually invest in winning. 2020 was the first time in at least two decades that the Padres ranked top 15 in Opening Day payroll, and that was merely the beginning of their quest to keep up with the Dodgers, surging to top five in payroll in 2022 and actually out-spending LA in 2023.
That 2022 NLDS in which the 89-win Padres stunned the 111-win Dodgers was something of a "little bro striking out big bro for the first time" moment for this rivalry. The Padres have been riding/chasing that high ever since, with last year's NLDS showdown going the distance.
Then, in the offseason, it was the Dodgers edging out the Padres again in the pursuit of Roki Sasaki, and the Dodgers signing Tanner Scott away from San Diegoâthough, he had only been a Padre for a couple of months, so let's not pretend it was anything close to the Yankees signing Johnny Damon away from the Red Sox.
Now, it looks like they're going to duke it out for the NL West crown and home-field advantage if and when they meet in October for the fourth time in six years.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants
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Next Series: June 13-15
Here's your fun fact of the day: The Dodgers and Giants have played more regular-season games against each other (2,580) than the Colorado Rockies have wins since becoming a franchise in 1993 (2,328).
That's what happens when you're rivals in New York for nearly seven decades before moving together out to California for what has been almost seven more decades of intrastate hatred.
Until the addition of a wild card team in 1995, it wasn't possible for both teams to make the postseason in the same year. This resulted in a handful of incredible pennant races, most famously The Shot Heard 'Round the World in 1951.
Los Angeles and San Francisco did finally run into each other in the postseason in 2021, though, when the 106-win Dodgers eliminated the 107-win Giants in what may have been the greatest NLDS of all-timeâonly to then lose to 88-win Atlanta in the NLCS.
The beauty of this rivalry is how evenly matched it is.
The Giants are winning that 2,580-game all-time series...with a .501 winning percentage. With a divide of just five games, the Dodgers could flip it in their favor this summer. And while the forthcoming Yankees-Red Sox rivalry has a permanent "Yeah, but look how many rings we have" dynamic in New York's favor, both the Giants and Dodgers have won eight world championships, with LA holding a slim 26-23 edge in the pennants department.
1. Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees
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Next Series: June 6-8
Maybe the best thing to come out of that whole "100 men vs. 1 gorilla" craze was the hypothetical question of whether 100 Don Zimmers could defeat one Pedro MartĂnez.
This rivalry hasn't packed as much of a "relevance" punch lately, what with Boston one-fourth of the way through what might be its fourth consecutive season with a winning percentage of .500 or worse.
However, there is so much history between these two clubs at this point that immediate postseason implications are hardly a prerequisite for turning one of these series into a pressure cooker.
Statements along the lines of "throw out the record books when they square off" are usually reserved for Duke-UNC in basketball or Alabama-Auburn in football, but this is one of those rare pro sports pairings where they could be battling for last place in the AL East in late September and you'd still at least check in periodically.
Heck, six months of mutual frustration like that could be the recipe for an all-timer of a bench-clearerâwhich could be exactly why MLB's schedule makers have refused to put a Yanks-Sox series in the final week of the regular season over the past eight years.
