season. At the time, the franchise that would become the Washington Nationals played in Montreal as the Montreal Expos, and the Expos played the Toronto Blue Jays as their interleague "natural rival" each year from 1997 to 2004 in what became known as the All-Canadian Series. The Orioles and Expos met one another in routine interleague play – without any connotation of a "rivalry" or other special association between the teams – during the 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 seasons. The Expos posted a 9–6 record against the Orioles. The relocation of the Expos to Washington for the 2005 season marked the first time the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area had two Major League Baseball franchises since the 1971 season, after which the second Washington Senators franchise had moved to Arlington, Texas, to become the Texas Rangers. MLB changed the Orioles′ "natural rival" to the Nationals, but the Expos move to Washington came after the 2005 schedule already had been set. Thus, Baltimore and Washington did not face one another at all in 2005; the Orioles instead played the Phillies as their "natural rival" for the last time, while the Nationals played what would have been the Expos′ 2005 schedule, including six games against the Blue Jays that would have constituted the 2005 All-Canadian Series had the Expos had remained in Montreal. The 2006 schedule thus became the first to include games between Baltimore and Washington as interleague "natural rivals," inaugurating the "Beltway Series." Scheduling From 2006 through 2012, the teams played each other six times a year, with one three-game series in each city and the two series taking place in May and June and separated by between three and six weeks. Since 2013, when a realignment took effect in Major League Baseball's two leagues and their divisions, the schedule has varied according to whether the American League East and National League East are scheduled to play one another in interleague play, which occurs on a rotational basis once every three years. During these seasons, the Beltway Series consists of six games, with one three-game series played in each city, played at any point during the season; in 2015, for example, the teams played in Baltimore in July and played in Washington in September. In seasons in which the two divisions do not meet, the Orioles and Nationals play four games, two in each city. From 2013 to 2017, the