New outfielder Kyle Schwarber celebrates with Bryce Harper after hitting a home run in his first at-bat during the 2022 season opener against the Oakland Athletics on Friday. The Phillies won 9-5.

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The Phillies are hosting the Oakland Athletics at Citizens Bank Park for the first series of the 2022 season, part of the interleague play that’s about to become even more prevalent in the MLB.

Back when the A’s were based in Philadelphia, the National League and American League didn’t officially play each other at all. But the ballclubs made sure residents had a chance to see the two local teams duke it out.

An annual contest called the “City Series” pitted the hometown heroes against one another, and — as anyone who knows Philly sports culture could guess — the unofficial matchups were intense.

The Athletics were generally the better team, but on one occasion the Phillies declared the first victory, and went on to have a stellar season. This thread details how it all went down.

Avi Wolfman-Arent is co-host of Studio 2 and a broadcast anchor on 90.9 FM. He was previously an education reporter with WHYY, where he's worked since 2014. Prior to that he covered nonprofits for the...