Cincinnati Reds - Rivalry

Rivalry

The Ohio Cup was an annual pre-season baseball game, which pitted the Ohio rivals Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds. In its first series it was a single-game cup, played each year at minor-league Cooper Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, was staged just days before the start of each new Major League Baseball season. A total of eight Ohio Cup games were played, in 1989 to 1996, with the Indians winning six of them. It stopped because interleague play started in 1997. The winner of the game each year was awarded the Ohio Cup in postgame ceremonies. The Ohio Cup was a favorite among baseball fans in Columbus, with attendances regularly topping 15,000. In 1997 and after, the two teams competed annually in the regular-season Battle of Ohio or Buckeye Series. In 2008 the Ohio Cup restarted. The Indians currently lead the interleague series 36–35.

In 2010, on their way to winning the National League Central Division, the Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals brawled on the field after Brandon Phillips followed up disparaging Twitter remarks about the opposing team by playfully tapping on the shin guards of catcher Yadier Molina in his first at-bat. Since the brawl, fans from both sides have treated the other team with disdain. Further compounding the rivalry is the fact that both Reds owner Bob Castellini and GM Walt Jocketty spent significant time as a member of the Cardinals' organization, Castellini as a former minority owner and Jocketty as a former General Manager. Since being hired by the Reds, Jocketty has signed or traded for a number of former Cardinals players, including Scott Rolen, Ryan Ludwick, Miguel Cairo, Edgar Rentería, and Jim Edmonds.