On Wednesday, MLB announced the 2023 schedule, full of changes and surprises.
The number of divisional games was reduced from 19 to 13, and there will be far more interleague games.
This is positive because it will revive some stagnant rivalries.
One of them is the one the New York Yankees have with the Giants franchise.
Yes: the San Francisco Giants were once the New York Giants, and they had some hot matchups with the Yankees until 1958, when they moved to the West Coast.
Can you guess the first game on the Yankees calendar for 2023?
Yes, the Giants.
“The 2023 @MLB schedule has been released. #Yankees Opening Day is March 30, 2023 vs. the San Francisco Giants at Yankee Stadium,” MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tweeted.
The 2023 @MLB schedule has been released. #Yankees Opening Day is March 30, 2023 vs. the San Francisco Giants at Yankee Stadium.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 24, 2022
The Yankees have had several rivalries throughout history: their arch rivals, the Boston Red Sox, represents the biggest one.
The Yankees’ Old Rivals
However, they also held tense rivalries with the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants in the first half of the 20th century.
The teams met for a total of 58 times: Meetings total 58, 43 in the World Series, and 15 during regular season play.
The Yankees had the advantage, 33–24–1: that’s good for a .578 winning percentage.
The Yankees won 10 of the 15 regular season games.
Results were lopsided in the Giants’ favor in the early 1920s, though, as they won the 1921 and 1922 World Series against the Yankees.
The Yankees went on to take the next five Fall Classics against their rivals, though: 1923, 1936, 1937, 1951, and 1962, the last one when the Giants were already in San Francisco.
With the Giants out of New York, the rivalry wasn’t the same as the good old days, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely dead: both teams should enter 2023 as playoff contenders and will want to start things off on the right foot.
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