Red Sox, Yankees rivalry reignites on Twitter

The rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees has evolved to the social media platform by taking shots at each other on Twitter.

The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees have shared one of the greatest rivalries in sports, but their feud has been mostly dormant over the past few years.

When the Red Sox were on their way to winning the World Series in 2013, the Yankees were finishing well outside the playoff race. New York managed to climb back into the postseason last year, but the Red Sox finished a distant last place in the division for the second straight year. It’s tough to have a heated rivalry if the teams aren’t contending at the same time and they don’t have to go through one another on the path to postseason glory.

With both teams expected to be in the race this year we could see this once great rivalry renewed. We haven’t even started spring training yet, but sparks are already beginning to fly.

The Yankees have long been considered the bully in this feud and they lived up to that reputation by trolling the Red Sox on Twitter.

To which the Red Sox quickly fired back with a shot of their own.

Is this what we consider bad blood between two proud franchises these days? It used to be bench clearing brawls and bean ball wars that got the teams and their fan bases heated. Now instead of Jason Varitek shoving his glove in the face of Alex Rodriguez, it’s a couple of interns throwing shade at each other through the team’s social media accounts. Is this a feud between two baseball teams or between two high school students competing over asking the same girl to prom?

Times have changed. Red Sox and Yankees players don’t have the same animosity toward each other that they used to and have generally been playing nice over the last few years. The Red Sox made the classy gesture of honoring Yankee legends like Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter in their finals seasons, while we can expect David Ortiz to get similar treatment during his last visit to Yankee Stadium this year. Can you imagine either team giving such a warm reception to a player on the other side of this rivalry 10 years ago? 20 years ago?

The spread of social media has changed the way athletes feud with one another. The trash talking isn’t kept on the field, as players can now throw virtual hay-makers at each other from behind their computer screens. Sometimes it’s all in good fun, like when Super Bowl MVP Von Miller trolled the Carolina Panthers by replacing their heads from a team photo with the infamous “crying Jordan” face. Other times the tweets get a bit more vicious, which we saw in the wake of the Cincinnati Bengals playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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The Red Sox and Yankees are throwing playful jabs at one another this spring, but if these teams are both contending by the end of the season then the gloves will come off. Having these two powerhouse franchises locked in a heated rivalry is good for baseball, while social media now adds another dimension to their feud.