Every Phillies series, PFO will be putting out a fun story about the opponent. Check out all the big trades, bad signings, and silliness that has come with baseball over the last 140+ years
Phillies vs Braves: Braves Free Agency Since Greg Maddux
The Braves are one of the more interesting teams out there when it comes to free agency. In fact, the success of free agency in a way comes back to them and Ted Turner when they signed the very first officially sanctioned free agent ever with Andy Messersmith’s 3/$1m contract back in 1975. Since then?…
Phillies vs Braves: Ted Turner, Gary Matthews, and the America’s Cup
Ted Turner was wild. He was known to spend lavishly, act crazy, and basically do whatever he wanted. Why? Because he could. To many, he was an asshole. To more still, he was a genius. Well, he was also the owner of the Atlanta Braves and in the late 70s, all of these personality traits…
Phillies at Diamondbacks: How did Arizona win a World Series in Just 4 Years?
The Phillies were around for 97 years before winning their first World Series. The Diamondbacks did it in 4. It took 93 years for the Phillies to have a 100 win season. The Diamondbacks did it in 2. What the hell??? How in the world did they manage that? Monday, August 31 at 9:40p -…
Phillies at Angels: How Casey Kotchman Became Mike Trout
UPDATE: I’m an idiot and had my Mets-Angels trade history backwards. I fixed it. Special thanks to Twitter user John Chris for being extra nice about letting me know. He’s a peach! The Anaheim Angels of Anaheim pulled the trigger on a huge trade back at the 2008 MLB Trade Deadline. On July 29, they…
The 2001 Seattle Mariners
The 2001 Seattle Mariners may be the most famous forgotten team in MLB history. With 116 wins, how is that possible? The record wins, the roster, and what happened next all add to the legend of the best team that no one remembers. Let’s go back in time 25 years… Monday, August 24 at 9:40p…
There’s Only One Way to Feel Good About Scott Rolen
The Phillies are playing the Cardinals and this will forever make me think about Scott Rolen. On July 29, 2002, the Phillies traded Rolen and Doug Nickle to the Cardinals for Placido Polanco, Bud Smith and Mike Timlin. The Phillies had the best 3rd baseman of a generation, AGAIN, and got rid of him. There…
Phillies Playoff Chase
Updated through games of 8/23 There are 31 games left in the 2026 regular season. With a record of 73-58, the Phillies would be in the playoffs if that carnival started today. It’s close though, very close. Far closer than it has any business being, but here we are. Let’s take a look at what…
Phillies at Twins: Remember Contraction?
The Twins are a fun franchise and Minneapolis is a great city (at least in the summer time). Baseball started there after moving from Washington in 1961 and was pretty successful, winning two World Series (1987 and 19911) and losing another (1965). There were stars like Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Bert Blyleven, and Kirby Puckett.…
Phillies vs Nationals: Big Sexy for Everybody!
Since it’s trade season and the Phillies are playing Washington, let’s look back into the history books for a memorable deadline deal in Nationals franchise history. Back in 2002, the Montreal Expos were thinking they might get contracted by MLB, so they went ALL in on a deadline deal to get Bartolo Colon from Cleveland.…
Phillies vs Orioles: The Dumbest Forfeit (Forfeit #5)
There have been 5 forfeits in MLB since 1955. Before that, games were usually called on account of darkness. I have profiled the other 4 so far this year and we are finally at the last one. While the others were for obvious reasons, this one was the dumbest. Now when I say dumbest, I’ll…
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