Phillies top five rivals of all-time: Which teams are hated the most?
No. 1: New York Mets
An interesting thing about the rivalry between the teams is that the Mets divisional titles in 1969, 1986, 2000 and 2015 came during a time when the Phillies were terrible. When the Phillies won in 1980, 1983, 1993, 2007 through 2011, the Mets were in large part nowhere to be found. However, that doesn’t take away from the rivalry.
Some prominent names that played for both franchises include Richie Ashburn, Larry Bowa, Tug McGraw, Billy Wagner, and Pedro Martinez. A notable performance by the Phillies in the rivalry dates back to Father’s Day in 1964 when Jim Bunning threw a perfect game against the Mets, the first in franchise history.
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The rivalry heated up during the middle 2000s. No Phillies fan will forget the game-winning hit off Mets’ closer Billy Wanger which prompted Harry Kalas to proclaim Utley as “the man.” After the Mets won the division in 2006 and the Phillies narrowly missing the playoffs, Jimmy Rollins boldly predicted on January 23, 2007, that the Phillies were the team to beat in the division. With a win on the final day of the season, the Phillies erased a seven-game deficit over the last three weeks of the season to take the division.
During much of the 2008 season, the Mets battled with the Phillies and Marlins for the top spot in the division.
Late in the season, former Phillies tremendous and Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt added fuel to the fire. His email to Charlie Manuel stating the Mets know you’re better than they are was posted in the locker room. Cole Hamels noted that the Mets were “choke artists the past two seasons.”
As the Phillies started to rebuild and the Mets have had the better of the matchups the past few seasons. Now the teams are battling with the Nationals for wild card positioning this season.
Next. Phillies prospect Spencer Howard lights out. dark
The names have changed over the years, but the rivalry continues, and as the two teams should both be competitive in the foreseeable future, this rivalry should heat up once again.