The interleague play officially started back in 1997, and since then, the Phillies have played hundreds of games against American League teams. This series with the Texas Rangers are very rare. In fact, the Rangers and the Kansas City Royals have been the two teams that the Phillies have played the fewest games since the MLB started up interleague play. Last night’s loss by the score of 6-4 was only the 16th time that these two teams have met to play. The Phils fell to 7-9 against the Rangers all-time, and the Rangers have now reeled off wins in the last 6 meetings between the two teams.
Embed from Getty ImagesWith last night’s game, the Phillies now are tied with several teams in the least amount of interleague games between opponents. Now, the Kansas City Royals hold the record with the fewest games played against the Phils at 15 since the interleague matchups started. Those two teams, both the Rangers and Royals are two teams that I don’t watch much at all outside of the interleague matchups, they are just teams that never appealed to me much.
Embed from Getty ImagesCorey Seager has a huge contract with the Rangers that has had a bad start to 2022, the Phils have had a semi-rough start to this year too, though there is a lot of the season to change that.
This will all start to change next year, with the MLB revamping the schedule, inter-division matchups will be reduced to 14 games against opponents that the Phillies now play 19 games against. To replace this, the schedule will have the Phillies play at least 3 games vs. every other MLB team in a season, so starting in 2023, the Phils will play against every other MLB at least either home or away every season for the 3 games. So every year, the Phils will play against the Seattle Mariners, who the two teams have only played 16 total games against one another, the Mariners have been a rare opponent of the Phils as well.
Embed from Getty ImagesKyle Schwarber is leading the club in HR so far, if he can get his average up and get a few more hits, he could end up leading the Phillies offense.
The Phillies don’t seem to like interleague matchups, lifetime including this season and last night’s loss, they are 198-251 when they play those games. I like a lot of players in the American League, so, it will be fun to possibly see those players if they should play in Philadelphia next year. Overall though, I think the inter-division matchups are the most interesting games that fans like to see. One thing is for sure, we’ll all be seeing a much different schedule next year with the Phillies.