The Pennsylvania in-state rivalry between the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates has lost much of its luster since the Bucs were moved to the NL Central Division for the 1994 season.
Prior to that time it was one of baseball’s best and most intense. The Pirates joined the National League out in the western part of Pennsylvania for the 1887 season, four years after the Phillies own birth in the southeast corner of the Commonwealth.
In 1969, Major League Baseball split both the National and American Leagues into two divisions each for the first time. The Phillies and Pirates were placed into the NL East Division, and the rivalry really began to heat up when the Phillies emerged as a contender in the mid-1970’s.