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