Now that the Dodgers are done with the Arizona portion of spring training, they are back home in Southern California for another decades-long tradition — the Freeway Series against the Angels.
The Freeway Series began in 1962 with a single game in Palm Springs before settling into the mostly annual routine of games in Los Angeles and Anaheim ever since. The two teams meeting was a novelty for a long time, as National League and American League teams did not meet except for the World Series for most of baseball history.
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But the Dodgers and Angels have played each other in the regular season every year since 1997, which removes a lot of the shine the exhibition Freeway Series. Given the few breaks in the spring training matchups — no Freeway Series from 1965-68, 1972, 1980, and 2000-02 — there have been more years the Dodgers and Angels have played in the regular season (29) than years when the exhibition Freeway Series was their only matchup (27).
Knowing the Dodgers and Angels will meet six times during the regular season — May 15-17 in Anaheim, and June 5-7 in Los Angeles — means folks won’t really be bursting at the seams for these three exhibition games. But in case you were wondering, here are the stats for the history of the Freeway Series.
The Dodgers are 60-79-6 all-time in the exhibition Freeway Series, with the last tie coming in 2017.
The Angels won that first game in Palm Springs, 6-5. The Dodgers are 33-37-3 at Dodger Stadium in these games, and 27-41-3 in Anaheim. Here are the splits by decade:
|
Decade |
Record |
Runs scored |
Runs allowed |
|
1960s |
1-6 |
18 |
28 |
|
1970s |
14-11-1 |
128 |
96 |
|
1980s |
13-14 |
109 |
103 |
|
1990s |
12-14 |
92 |
88 |
|
2000s |
4-9-3 |
67 |
85 |
|
2010s |
9-17-2 |
97 |
132 |
|
2020s |
7-8 |
66 |
65 |
|
Totals |
60-79-6 |
577 |
597 |
Sunday night’s game is at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, with Monday and Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.
