Yankees' biggest rival? Depends on who you ask

The Yankees are in the middle of an eight-game stretch against the Red Sox, the Mets and then the Red Sox again.

ESPN, which broadcast Sunday night’s game against Boston and Wednesday’s Subway Series matchup, has leaned heavily into the rivalry aspect.  

For Red Sox-Yankees, that means showing every important player on both teams from Babe Ruth to Ted Williams to Derek Jeter to David Ortiz. For the Subway Series, you probably saw a clip of Roger Clemens throwing a splintered bat at Mike Piazza a few times, right?

But which team is the Yankees’ biggest current rival? Is it the Red Sox? The Mets? The AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays? Or the Houston Astros, who keep knocking the Yankees out of the playoffs and have a star player in Jose Altuve who gets his own foul-mouthed chant every time he steps into Yankee Stadium?

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and some Yankees players offered their thoughts this week as the Yankees lost two of three to the Red Sox in the Bronx and then split a heated Subway Series with the Mets at Citi Field ahead of this weekend’s series at Fenway Park.

Steinbrenner, on Tuesday at the owners’ meetings in Manhattan, dismissed the idea that the Steve Cohen-owned Mets are the Yankees’ biggest rivals when asked if the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry has lost some of its luster.

“Yeah, but that can turn right back around again,” Steinbrenner said. “[Red Sox owner] John Henry is not afraid to do everything he can to field a good team. On the other hand, they're in last place this year and that won't be the case every year. I'm guessing it'll come back.  

“You know, everyone asks me about the Mets and unless I'm playing in the World Series — I understand the city-city thing, I get it — but the teams I worry about are in my division. The rivalry with the Rays is fierce and the Blue Jays is getting more and more fierce and the Baltimore [rivalry] will get more and more fierce because they've got a good, young team. But I think there's an ebb and flow to it and Boston will be back.”

The sellout crowds at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field this week were into the rivalry games, for sure. Four of the games were decided by one run, the other by two. Folks got their money’s worth. Players waxed about the super-charged atmosphere.

“The atmosphere in the stadium is obviously great,” said catcher Kyle Higashioka. “But for us, we strive to win every single game. So it’s like, if we’re playing harder against those teams, why aren’t we doing that against the worst teams in the league? We need to be playing just as hard against everybody. In my opinion, it’s all the same on the field. It’s just you know [in a rivalry game] you’re going to get a sellout and the fans are going to be rowdy and it’s going to be great.”

Higashioka was willing to entertain the notion that Houston or Tampa Bay could be the Yankees’ biggest current rival because of what the games mean. The Red Sox and Yankees aren’t battling for the division, and the Subway Series games still have an element of novelty to them.

“For me, I guess the Rays have typically been our No. 1 competition in the division over the last few years,” Higashioka said. “The Astros are obviously a big rivalry, but we don’t play them as much.”

Third baseman Josh Donaldson tipped his Yankees cap to the rivalry against the Red Sox but suggested the Astros as the Yankees’ toughest current foe.

“I guess the Red Sox are probably the most traditional rivalry,” Donaldson said. “Outside the division, I’d say the Astros have been a tough team for us to play against. I feel like the energy levels for those games have always been a little bit higher.”

Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who executed a straight steal of home against the Mets on Wednesday, took more of a traditional view.  

“Definitely Boston and the Mets,” he said. “Those are the two biggest ones for us where we can feed off the fan base. Those are the games you wake up for knowing that it’s going to be sold out, it’s going to be crazy.”

With Laura Albanese

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.