Ladies and gentlemen, I present you the top rivalry this season:
The Red Sox and Rays do not have a storied history.
They have not had many postseason showdowns.
They are not geographically close.
However, these two teams hate each other. The two fanbases aren't major fans of each other. And biggest of all, they are two of among the five best teams in baseball and are currently competing for the same division title.
And this bears repeating, they really, really hate each other.
The Red Sox and Yankees rivalry has boiled down considerably because the fights have diminished, the trash talk has toned down, and both teams have not really had similar records in recent years.
But the Rays and Red Sox are just one game apart right now. And just went through a tough, tough matchup that had layers of emotions boiling over. And this game and the Twitter war that followed is just the latest chapter in a string of run-ins that have become increasingly hostile and intense.
If you want to know when it all started, it was far back in 2000 when Pedro Martinez bullied the Devil Rays by hitting the very first batter, started a brawl, and then nearly tossed a no-hitter to follow the hit batsman. Just a month later, the Devil Rays managed to become the team to eliminate them that season, and resulted in the closer Roberto Hernandez waving good-bye to the Sox bench.
A few years of exchanges of close pitches, hits, near-fights, and verbal jabs, 2008 gave us the next chapter of the rivalry when things really took off. Both teams were fighting to be on top of the standings, and we then got this:
And then, Tampa did this to Boston:
And...well....this happened:
The biggest reasons for the rivalry is because of the very different fanbases involved, because of the role-reversal in terms of style of play and success, and because each team has been a major road block to each others' recent success---with Tampa causing more damage in recent years.
Boston lives and dies with their sports teams. Few cities passionately love their teams more than Boston. And on the other side of the coin you have the tortured fanbase of the Devil Rays/Rays, that have to compete with Red Sox Nation, Yankees Universe, and the Phillie Phanatics within their own territory. The Rays fans aren't as vocal, aren't as easy to find on television (Amongst the worst attendance in baseball since 1998), and are quite fed up with the bullying ways of the competition and the fans that always seem to outnumber them 4:1. It does get a bit jarring and irritating whenever you see a Rays game in Tampa and see more fans of the opposition.
Back in the day, Boston was known as the blue collar tough-as-nails organization that usually rounded up players willing to risk their lives for a win to represent the Sox. Now the Red Sox Nation has created a huge fanbase leading to huge amounts of money to spend on winning players. In terms of payroll, now the Red Sox are high up there with the Yankees, Angels, and Dodgers. The Rays on the other hand consist of rejected players from other franchises, rookies trying to make an impression, and heapings of unpopular role players that always manage to mesh together thanks to the artistry of Joe Maddon. To the Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox are just like the Yankees---rich, popular, and with a sentiment that they are more entitled to their success than others.
In the Rays' recent jarring quest for their first ring, the Red Sox are constantly there trying to get in the way. And this season, with arguably the best Rays lineup in its history, the urgency is there. With the Red Sox this season, they are trying to restore the image of the franchise that was absolutely tarnished after their ridiculous 2011 collapse and their awful season with Bobby Valentine.
This division ain't big enough for the two of them. And this is why the rivalry is picking up steam heading towards September.
And baseball is loving every single second of it.
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