New York Yankees and Red Sox fans cite lack of fan enthusiasm, mediocre players for alarming dip in quality in sport's premier rivalry

For decades, a meeting between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees would be the biggest event on the MLB calendar. Now, modern circumstances have called America's biggest sports rivalry into question.

On June 11, the two teams got set to play the rubbermatch in their first series of the 2023 season. The clubs had exchanged losses in the first two games, and although both were keen to steal a win in the third game, many could not help but notice that the excitement of the rivalry was muted compared to past seasons.

Although New York Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt gave the Yankees a solid 5.1 innings, the Bronx Bombers failed to muster much offense against the Sox. Eventually, Red Sox infielder Kiki Hernandez would seal the fate of his team with an extra innings RBI double to seal the 3-2 victory.

The series win represented the first for the Red Sox since taking on the Arizona Diamondbacks in late May. Following the game, fans of both teams took aim at their own sides, prompting MLB analyst Jared Carrabis to cast even more doubt on the supposed rivalry on Twitter.

"The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry has gone from the two fan bases saying the other team sucks to the two fan bases saying their own team sucks." - Jared Carrabis

Although the victory improved the Boston Red Sox's record to 33-33, they still sit dead last in the AL East. The series loss also represents the second straight for the New York Yankees since their heavy-hitting captain Aaron Judge hit the IL on June 5.

Although Jared Carrabis often provokes the ire of fans of all stripes, many appeared to agree with him that the Yankees-Sox rivalry has lost a lot of its luster. They also seem to have agreed with Carrabis' supposition that much of it has to do with both clubs having overly self-critical fanbases.

Both teams will go their separate ways before reconvening next weekend at Fenway Park in Boston. In the meantime, the New York Yankees will play their cross-town rivals in a two-game set, while the Red Sox will welcome the Colorado Rockies for a three-game series.

New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox need to do more to promote rivalry

While the passion is undoubtedly still there for both fanbases, the team's respective performances have done little to give fans reasons to promote the age-old feud between the two clubs.

Perhaps if both pick up their playing, then the competitive nature of the meetings between these two teams will be regained by the season's end.