Here's each team's fiercest rival -- right now

Even without baseball so far this year, one thing remains constant among baseball fans: Everybody hates their rival. It is almost as fun to cheer for your team’s rival to lose as it is to cheer for your team to win itself. Baseball rivalries are eternal.

They are, however, dynamic and ever-changing. Sometimes, a team’s rival can ebb and flow; sometimes, circumstances dictate the rival. So, today, we take a look at each team’s most hated rival right now. And what’s interesting is that a team’s main rival isn’t always mutual.

And just to make sure we spread all the anger around: We’ll even give each team a runner up.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

Blue Jays -- Orioles
The two teams are both building for a better future in a brutal division. The Blue Jays are further along, but they’re also more concerned with winning now than the Orioles are.
Runner-up: Yankees

Orioles -- Yankees
If you’ve been to Camden Yards recently to watch the Yankees play, and seen as many Yanks fans as O's fans, this is an easy one to figure. The Orioles will start to know that conditions are improving when that ratio begins turning the other way.
Runner-up: Blue Jays

Rays -- Red Sox
The Rays and Red Sox always seem on the verge of having some sort of on-field scuffle. It’s funny how those seem to happen more when both teams are good.
Runner-up: Yankees

Red Sox – Yankees
This will be a white-hot battle that'll last until the sun burns out, extinguishing all life on this planet.
Runner-up: Rays

Yankees -- Red Sox
The only disappointment here was how quick and sort-of lame their last postseason matchup was in 2018. That’ll change next time they meet, no doubt.
Runner-up: Mets

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL

Indians -- Twins
This was probably the Tigers for a long time, but of late these have clearly been the best two teams in the division.
Runner-up: Tigers

Royals -- Cardinals
The team on the other side of the state gets all the attention and has all the history, but as their fans are happy to remind you, the Royals have won a championship more recently.
Runner-up: Tigers

Tigers -- Indians
They’re logical geographic rivals, but the Tigers need to be a little bit more relevant to get back to true top-tier status.
Runner-up: Yankees

Twins -- Yankees
The pain the Yankees have caused this team in the postseason, seemingly forever, makes them the easy choice here.
Runner-up: Indians

White Sox -- Cubs
The good news is that they’ll have Eloy Jiménez to lord over them for the next half-decade or so. Know, by the way, that a judge says it’s the law that their rivals are, in fact, the Twins.
Runner-up: Twins

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST

Angels -- Dodgers
The Dodgers’ success, despite the Angels having the best player in baseball for nearly a decade now, chafes even more these days.
Runner-up: A’s

Astros -- Rangers
It’s possible at this point that the Astros’ biggest rival is “baseball fans.”
Runner-up: Dodgers

Athletics -- Astros
It’s a tough call between the defending AL champs and their Bay Area brethren, but current vitriol has to win out here.
Runner-up: Giants

Mariners -- Angels
There may be no team in baseball with a less obvious rival than the Mariners.
Runner-up: Astros

Rangers -- Astros
The Rangers were hating the Astros before it was cool to hate the Astros.
Runner-up: Angels

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST

Braves -- Nationals
The Mets are the historic rival, but the Nationals are the team that won the World Series last year even though the Braves won the division.
Runner-up: Mets

Marlins -- Mets
No logical one here, and we’re not going to try to talk us into some sort of Derek Jeter feud, either. One wishes the Rays and Marlins could hate each other more.
Runner-up: Phillies

Mets -- Yankees
Remember: You can go to a Mets-Braves game and, at some point, a “Yankees Suck!” chant is going to break out.
Runner-up: Nationals

Nationals – Phillies
The Bryce Harper move is the main reason for this one, though a World Series title tends to be a balm for old wounds.
Runner-up: Braves

Phillies – Mets
It’s not quite as heated as it was a decade ago, but it will be when these two top the division again.
Runner-up: Nationals

NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL

Brewers -- Cubs
Cubs fans aren’t exactly taking over Miller Park like they used to anymore.
Runner-up: Cardinals

Cardinals -- Cubs
You can make an argument the Cubs have been responsible for every major move the Cardinals have made over the last half-decade ... and many they didn’t.
Runner-up: Brewers

Cubs -- Cardinals
They might not fight each other in the streets like Red Sox and Yankees fans, but don’t think this Midwestern rivalry is any less heated -- particularly these days.
Runner-up: Brewers

Pirates -- Cardinals
They’re in a dry spell right now, but the last time the Pirates were legitimate contenders, it’s the Cardinals who broke their hearts in the 2013 NL Division Series.
Runner-up: Cubs

Reds -- Cardinals
So much of what the Reds are building right now seems patterned on what the Cardinals have been doing. At the very least, they’re tired of watching the Cardinals be what they want to be.
Runner-up: Indians

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST

D-backs -- Dodgers
You’ll find a rather consistent rival in this division for everyone. Seven straight titles will do that.
Runner-up: Giants

Dodgers -- Giants
The Dodgers may own this division, but the Giants, as they will gleefully remind you, are the team with three rings this century, while the Dodgers are in the midst of a 32-year title drought.
Runner-up: Cardinals

Giants -- Dodgers
It ranges back more than a half-century when both teams occupied New York, but they’ve always been natural fits as rivals on the West Coast, too.
Runner-up: A’s

Padres -- Dodgers
They’re the only game in town in San Diego anymore, but they still feel like little brothers to their fellow Southern Californians.
Runner-up: Giants

Rockies -- Dodgers
The Dodgers are the white rabbit all these greyhounds are perpetually chasing.
Runner-up: Giants