The Emmy Award-winning series Abbott Elementary is premiering the much-awaited Season 5 in less than a fortnight. You may already know that one of its episodes is taking viewers straight to Citizens Bank Park. The entire cast, led by creator and star Quinta Brunson, filmed at a live Phillies-Braves game on August 28th. Since the San Diego Comic-Con, fans had speculated about this idea after it was casually teased by Brunson. And now, a comment from one of the show’s actors about that game has given a hilarious spin to the whole saga.

“You can expect us to be filming at a live event… I do think that Philly sports fans will be very happy.” That’s it! That’s all Quinta Brunson had to say back then to create a buzz among Phillies Circle. Meanwhile, on that night, the Phillies had clinched a 19-4 win over the Braves.

And if you ask Chris Perfetti, who’s playing Jacob on the show, he believes the Phillies’ win wasn’t just a coincidence. “The Phillies won. We rigged the game,” Perfetti jokingly said while speaking with TheWrap at ABC’s summer soirée.

But for real, the “historic” Phillies-Braves game, as Perfetti described, was a “blast” overall. It was surely historic because at the time of filming, Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber had made MLB history by hitting four home runs and driving in nine RBIs. With the win, he was also established as the 21st player ever to hit four homers in a single game.

Notably, this isn’t the first time that Abbott Elementary has featured in Philly sports. Taking you back to season 2, there was an instance when the 1st episode featured the Philadelphia Flyers mascot—Gritty. In the next season too, there was a brief presence of three Philadelphia Eagles players—Jalen Hurts, Jason Kelce, and Brandon Graham.

For this upcoming season, the Phillies have given the fans a cheeky spoiler on August 29th. The @philliephanatic account had posted a picture featuring their mascot and the entire cast. The picture was posted in collaboration with the official accounts of Major League Baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies, and Abbot Elementary.

If Perfetti believes the cast rigged the game that night, perhaps the Phillies’ entire season was rigged, too. After all, they became the first team this season to secure the division title.

Phillies clinch their second straight NL title

After defeating the Dodgers 6-5 at Los Angeles on Monday, the Philadelphia Phillies wrapped up their second consecutive National League East crown. Right now, Harper and co. are aiming for a first-round bye. It will take them straight to the NL Division Series.

Once that’s done, their ultimate goal of securing the World Series title will be their priority. In the NL division, the top two seeds get a bye in the wild card round. Right now, the NL West is led by the Los Angeles Dodgers. At the same time, they are 5 ½ games behind the Phillies. With 9 games left to be played, they are only 2 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the No. 1 seed.

Last season, the Phillies had won the division, but they then dropped the NL division series to the New York Mets. Right now, the team is without Zack Wheeler, and there is a little void while we’re just a few days away from October. The rotation right now is led by Cristopher Sanchez, Ranger Suarez, and Jesus Luzardo.

Right now, the Phillies have things in control with Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper in the picture for offense. However, the way the Phillies lost 5-0 to the Dodgers on Thursday was slightly concerning.