Royals Rival, Tigers or Kanye?

Rivalries are part of every sport. Some are celebrated while others are filled with nastiness and even hatred. If someone wanted to know the biggest rivalry in all of sports one could easily put together a nice list. Yankees vs. Red Sox, Alabama vs. Auburn, Chiefs vs. Raiders, Manchester United vs. Liverpool or Beck vs. Kanye. Ok, maybe not the latter but you get the point. But what about the Royals rival? Who are they? Do the Royals know? If so, is the rival even aware?

All good questions without any clear-cut answers. When I was growing up in the 1980s, I knew about the rivalry between the Royals and the Yankees but I was to young to be apart of it. I found it fascinating that four out of five years the same two teams played for the American League Championship. But I never really started hating the Yankees until the Jeter era and they started to win the World Series every year.

When I was a young fan the team the Royals hated was the California Angels. Yep, that’s right CALIFORNIA Angels, not the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim A.K.A. the other team in L.A. not named the Dodgers. In 1985 the Angels were the most feared team in the American League West and the Royals only beat them by 1 game that year. And in 1986 the halos won the division outright.

Later, in the decade of decadence, my perceived rivalry became the Oakland A’s and the bash brothers. In 1988, the A’s became a juggernaut of muscle. When Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire started sharing needles um, I mean, batting tips, no one would dare go get a hot dog during their plate appearances. In the spring of 1989 my dad asked me to pick one game that I just had to attend. I passed on the Yankees and Angels and went straight to the month of August and circled the Saturday night special against Oakland.

On that August night the Royals entered the game with a 74-54 record just 3.5 games back of Oakland. Bret Saberhagen was on the mound with the division on the line. Over 41,000 rabid Royals fans cheered their collective guts out that night and witnessed the Royals win 2-0. That’s a rivalry game. Although, the A’s would go on to win the division and ultimately the World Series that year – it was still one heck of a rivalry.

And I would argue it might have been the last. What I’ve come to discover is that true rivalries need a couple of ingredients to be maintained over the years.

Number one, both fans bases and teams have to acknowledge the rivalry. Case in point, Ohio State vs. Michigan, Cubs vs. Cardinals, John Cena vs. The Rock, Swift vs. Kanye.

Number two; it helps if both teams are competitive. I know many think the Cardinals are the Royals rivals but that breaks both rules. Most Cardinal fans don’t give a flying rats behind about the Royals and Kansas City hasn’t been competitive until recently. I’ve heard a lot of Card fans say that KC is their favorite team in the American League. And that’s not a good sign for a rivalry. So who are the Royals rivals? Here are some candidates.

Detroit Tigers

Whether or not D-Town fans acknowledge it or not I bet it would really be satisfying for their Tigers to put the Royals back in their place. That’s any place behind them. But with both teams being very competitive this could turn into something special. Just like Eminem and Kim back in the day. Detroit isn’t afraid of the young upstart Royals but they would love to take their one shot and not miss their chance to crush them. The Royals have been intimidated by the Tigers roar in the past but coming off a successful post-season run they may be humming the tune of I’m Not Afraid.

Cleveland Indians

The competitiveness is there but I’m not so sure the fans are truly into it. Both teams have made the playoffs recently and there are some ex-Royals on the Indians squad to root against such as Mike Aviles and Blake Wood. But those aren’t big enough names to make it interesting. But unless Cleveland rocks this year this potential rivalry may take a few years to mature.

Chicago White Sox

Another in division foe that just hasn’t brought the fire. Unless they turn it around with all their off-season moves or start fighting first base coaches again, I don’t see them as a rival.

Baltimore Orioles

This is the dark horse. Baltimore papers have already lit the fuse with The Dunce vs. The Chess master print. And let’s not forget the over confident Oriole fan that called into local radio guaranteeing that Baltimore would not be swept by the Royals. So the passion is there but will the big games be there? The two teams won’t meet as much as their in-division opponents so it might take some more post season meetings to really fire up this mud slinging affair.

Kanye West

If the Royals win a championship and Kanye swoops in and snatches the trophy from Dayton’s hands just to proclaim it for Beyoncé, then yes it’s a rivalry. It’s an epic, glorious rivalry, no doubt about it, Kanye. Yeezus so help me God it will be a rivalry for the ages.



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