TUKWILA, Wash. — It’s hard to deny that the rivalry between the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers doesn’t quite feel as big as it once did. That will happen when you meet an average of four times per year — as they did from 2012-2018 — and as often as five times in a season, which happened as recently as last season.
And while the the national media seems to have turned the bulk of its attention to more burgeoning rivalries, like El Tráfico between the LA Galaxy and LAFC, Seattle-Portland remains arguably the country’s best.