MLB reveals flimsy 'Rivalry Weekend' for 2025 schedule, fumbling a good idea

There are multiple ways to define a rivalry, especially in sports. But, mostly, they're pretty clear-cut unless you ask MLB.

On Thursday, the league announced a special "Rivalry Weekend" for the 2025 schedule, which will take place from May 16-18. However, some of the matchups are curious at best.

For starters, perhaps the ultimate sports rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox isn't among the featured contests. Neither are the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants nor the Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals.

Instead, MLB decided to go geographical when determining which bitter enemies would face off. Out of the 15 matchups, the majority of games are between teams that reside relatively close to one another, regardless of the history that exists.

It works in some instances. For example, pairing the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox is never a terrible idea. But too many contests are flimsy attempts at creating a rivalry that simply isn't there or has long since evaporated.

The Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates were once rivals. However, since the National League broke into three divisions in 1993, any ill-will has blown away in the winds of time.

Meanwhile, MLB made a few more curious choices.

Much like the Phillies and Pirates, neighbors in the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles will battle. With time, this could brew into a decent rivalry, but for now, the only beef, again, is proximity.

Similarly baffling, the Boston Red Sox will play the Atlanta Braves. While it's true that the Braves used to play in Boston, they moved to Milwaukee in 1952, and the two sides have only met 96 times (never in the postseason), with the first coming when baseball introduced interleague play in 1997.

Perhaps MLB consciously decided to organize its rivalry weekend in the most efficient way possible. In fairness, the logistics of planning a 162-game schedule must have made matching rivals difficult.

However, passing over the obvious ones was a major miss for baseball and its fans. If next year's event is something the league wants to carry on into the future, perhaps it will showcase more actual rivalries in 2026.