Old Boss/New Boss: Rockies vs. D'Backs

Meaningless hype. Boring games. Inane off-field shenanigans. With every meeting, it looks more and more like the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry has jumped the shark. Old Boss/New Boss is FanHouse's look at some baseball rivalry alternatives.

Old Boss: Giants/Dodgers
New Boss: Rockies/Diamondbacks

There's one thing that truly defines a rivalry: success. The Marlins and Nationals could play eighteen knock-em-down drag-em-out baseball games every year, but not many people would notice because neither team is very good. That's why the Rockies and D'Backs are the budding rivalry to watch in baseball right now. Maybe they play out west and finish their games after lots of fans go to bed and maybe they're both relatively new franchises in the grand scheme of things, but neither of those things should diminish their rivalry.

So why D'Backs and Rockies? Why not D'Backs and Padres? Or Rockies and Padres? The answer, of course, is their meeting in last year's NLCS. The Red Sox/Yankees feud went from something that only Sox and Yanks fans cared about to being shoved down everyone's throats in 2003 and 2004 when they met in the ALCS two years in a row. Maybe the Rockies and Diamondbacks aren't quite to the level that you'd consider a true rivalry, but the seeds have been planted. Follow along after the jump as we examine them.

A quick glance at last year's NLCS wouldn't reveal much. On the surface it was a quick and one-sided series as the Rockies continued their magical run with an easy sweep over the D'Backs. In actuality, it went a lot deeper than that. The D'Backs were the NL West champs last year, but felt disrespected by everyone who dismissed their feat by pointing out that they had been outscored by their opponents. The Rockies were the media darlings on the incredible 21 wins in 23 games streak. What resulted was a hotly contested series, despite its length and one-sidedness.

In game 1 of the series, Justin Upton slid hard into Kaz Matsui at second base, prompting an interference call. The D'Backs' fans promptly covered the field in garbage while Clint Hurdle pulled his players off of the field. After the Rockies took a 2-0 lead in the series, Eric Byrnes responded by bitterly asserting that the Rockies weren't even that good. The Rockies, of course, were unphased by all of this and kicked the crap out of the Diamondbacks on their way to the NL pennant, then handed out their NL Championship rings in front of the Diamondbacks this year. That sounds like a rivalry to me, folks.

The best part about this budding rivalry, however, isn't what's already happened, but rather what might take place. The Diamondbacks are going to be good for quite some time with guys like Stephen Drew and Justin Upton leading the way. If anyone in the NL West is going to follow them to the top, it's going to be the Rockies with Troy Tulowitzki, Ubaldo Jiminez, Franklin Morales, and maybe Matt Holliday. Remember, shared success creates rivalries. Just think ahead to five years from now when Upton and Tulo reach their prime as their teams duke it out in the West. Kind of an awesome thought, isn't it? Keep an eye on the D'Backs and the Rockies.