10 Reasons The Yankees Vs Red Sox Rivalry Now Sucks

8. The Jays, Rays, And Os Are Really Good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlmrriXu6j4 What made the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry so good in the late 1990s/early 2000s was that it was pretty much a guarantee that one team would win the American League East and the other team would be the Wild Card team going into the playoffs. The other three teams in the AL East -- the Baltimore Orioles, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Tampa Bay Rays -- were mere footnote teams who never sniffed the top of the division. However, over the past five or six years, there has been a shift. The Rays have won the AL East a few times, and even made it to the World Series in 2008. The Blue Jays have been spending money to acquire big names, and are suddenly in contention with big hitters like Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. The Orioles are the current AL East champions, and are the only team from the division in the 2014 playoffs. Suddenly, the Yanks found themselves in third place this season, and the Red Sox (for the second time in three years) finished last in the division. This trend may continue for some time to come. When both the Yankees and the Sox are not at the top of the division, the rivalry doesn€™t mean as much anymore.