By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Oddsmakers and optimistic fans are not the only ones with "high hopes" for the 2019 Philadelphia Phillies with Bryce Harper and a slew of other All-Star-caliber players.
Count in the NFL, too.
Wednesday evening, the league released its 2019 regular season schedule for all 32 teams, the Super Bowl 52 champion Philadelphia Eagles included.
The Eagles will begin the season Sunday, Sept. 8, at home against the Washington Redskins. Then, the team will alternate being away and home over the next four games, leading up to weeks 6 through 8. For three straight weeks in October, the Eagles will not play at home (Oct. 13, 20 and 27) until Sunday Nov. 3, against the Chicago Bears.
According to NFL "schedule czar" Howard Katz, Senior VP of Broadcasting and Media Operations, in conversation with NBC Sports' Peter King, the reasoning behind the Eagles' peculiar road stretch is simple: Red October.
Save it, share it, post it, tattoo it, here's your officially official 2019 #Eagles schedule 👇#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/ch76f8M2ZZ
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) April 18, 2019
Katz told King, “We usually ignore the Phillies when it comes to stadium blocks. But I don’t think we can this year."
Stadium blocks occur when the league avoids scheduling a home NFL game in a city (e.g., when it thinks a MLB team will be playing the same day), according to King.
The Eagles, King continues, have the only scheduled three-game road trip, excluding the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers' “home” games in London.
So, when the Eagles are away this fall and the parking around Citizens Bank Park seems just right, with no football across the street, you can thank the NFL scheduling team for having "high hopes" and predicting the first Red October since 2011.
