Regardless of how Game 7 of the NBA finals end tonight, I don’t expect a real rivalry between the Pacers and Thunder. There’s neither any oomph or bad blood between any of the participants. Editor’s note: Bad blood isn’t a requisite for a productive rivalry.

As sports fans we hope for rivalries because we think it increases tensions and that it will lead to pressure on individuals and that improved performance is a necessary product.

Often rivalries are the creation of the media with the desired result being more eyes on the product. Most of these are contrived with players often ignoring them-not so with Caitlin Clark and the rest of the WNBA. Closer to home and the spirit of the blog, Dave Roberts and Mike Shildt have escalated the recent brushback and hit batter incidents to the level of Reggie v. Archie or Veronica v. Betty. Both managers have red-asses and take themselves a little too seriously-which doesn’t mean they are bad managers, but I don’t think the Dodgers really consider their in-state division foes to be real rivals. When there are big personalities involved like Ohtani and Machado slights either real or imagined get magnified. We hope that they’ll play better but that doesn’t always happen.

As hyped as Magic Johnson v. Larry Bird was, it was initially a creation of the network. Over the years, it was as much about Lakers-Celtics as the individuals. I think the rivalries between athletes in individual sports like tennis or boxing are more dramatic. Beyond the recent Big 3 in men’s tennis, one realizes that more than one rivalry can exist with multiple players and iterations. Think men’s tennis of the 70’s-80’s and heavyweight boxing from the same era. With team sports there’s always somebody that can pick up the slack. Rivals don’t have to hate one another for it to be effective although fans prefer that there’s a touch of animosity.

The NFL and its marketing arm try and create rivalries between the top quarterbacks which is silly because they’re never on the field at the same time. They might push one another but can never do anything to affect the other’s performance.

With the recent completion of the Cubs-Brewers shortened two-game set and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s dominant performance I got to thinking about that in light of their rivalry. The Cubs have played the Dodgers, Giants, Pirates and Reds thousands of times, but their biggest rivals are the Cardinals and Brewers. Fans can argue who is the bigger rival. Due to the nature of the relationship between the managers, Craig Counsell and Pat Murphy, we likely won’t see anything nasty happen.

The rivalry will be better if the best player on each team plays their best against the other. I’ not sure (exactly) who the most likely young players to step up for the Brewers will be given their inability to resign players, but based on those criteria, I’ll choose Jackson Chourio (because they have already signed him to long-term deal). Based on the recent series, PCA is my obvious choice for the Cubs.

While his all-around productivity may frustrate the Brewers and their fans, I don’t think anyone actively dislikes him. Respect for him and his game are apparent. In five games this season (3-2), Armstrong has lived up to his hype. He is 6/17 (.353) with 5 homers and 8 RBI. However, the success wasn’t immediate as he was only 2/27 (.074) against Cub pitching last season.

Conversely, the Brewers most exciting, young player, Chourio had a much better season last year 13/40 (.325) with 1 homer and 6 RBI. This year he’s only 5/22 without any homers or RBI. Overall, he’s hitting .290 though. I’m not sure Cub fans will dislike the versatile young outfielder.

As the Brewers were getting acclimated to life in the NL Central and Cubs fans took up residency in County Stadium and Miller Park, there were some great battles.

Slugger Sammy Sosa saved some of his best for the Brewers hitting .305 with 1400 hits, 44 homers, 93 RBI, and 95 runs in 120 games. Don’t forget the homers he hit in 1998 during the race with McGwire.

For his part, Ryan Braun embraced his role as villain whenever he came to Wrigley and for the most part delivered. In 193 games against the Cubs, he batted .311 with 220 hits, 40 homers, 141 RBI, and 128 runs scored.

It always struck me that the fans north of the border chided Sosa for his peccadillos but were offended when the good guys berated Braun for his indiscretions.

Incidentally, PCA came up huge when he played against his hometown Dodgers earlier this year. (10/29 with 4 homers and 9 RBI in seven games (4-3). Even if teams make adjustments, I don’t expect any scenario to be too much for PCA, least of all north of the border.