Phillies 2016 Schedule Includes Champion Royals
By Matt Veasey
The Philadelphia Phillies have released their full 2016 regular season schedule, and one of the highlights will be a visit to Citizens Bank Park over the first weekend in July by the newly crowned World Series champion Kansas City Royals. The Royals celebrated the 2nd world championship in their franchise history with a parade today in downtown Kansas City.
Aside from their historic 1980 World Series matchup, which resulted in the first world championship in Phillies franchise history, the two clubs have only met nine times, the Royals holding a 5-4 edge in that all-time regular season series.
Kansas City will be coming to town in 2016 as part of the Phillies’ Interleague schedule, which sees them face off mostly with teams from the American League Central Division.
On the weekend of April 29th through May 1st, the Cleveland Indians and former Phils’ manager Terry Francona will visit Citizens Bank Park. From Monday, May 23rd through Wednesday, May 25th the Phils will be in Comerica Park to take on the host Detroit Tigers, who just hired former Phillies’ pitching coach Rich Dubee to that role with their club.
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From Tuesday, June 21st through Thursday, June 23rd the Phils will be at Target Field to take on the host Minnesota Twins. Then in August and September, the Phillies will play a four-game home-and-home with the Chicago White Sox. The Chisox will host in mid-August, and then visit South Philly in mid-September.
In addition to the AL Central clubs, the Phillies will have to contend with the other ALCS participants, the powerful Toronto Blue Jays, with whom they will contest a four game home-and-home. The Jays will host north of the border at Rogers Centre on Monday, June 13th and 14th, and the two teams will then flash their passports and head south the Philly for a pair the following two nights, June 15th and 16th.
At the back end of the schedule, the Phils will meet the National League champion New York Mets in seven of their final 10 games of the season. From Thursday, September 22nd through Sunday, September 25th the Phils will visit Citi Field. Then in the final series of the season, the Phillies will play host from Friday, September 30th through Sunday, October 2nd.
The regular season will officially get under way for the Phillies on the road, with a visit to Great America Ballpark to take on the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, April 4th. Following a built-in off-day on Tuesday in case the opener is lost to inclement weather, the two teams will conclude that series on Wednesday, April 6th and Thursday the 7th.
The Phillies will stay on the road that weekend, visiting the Mets, before finally returning to Philadelphia to celebrate their 2016 home opener. From Monday, April 11th through Thursday, April 14th the Phillies will host the San Diego Padres. That series kicks off a 10-game home stand that will be followed by 3-game visits by both the Washington Nationals and the Mets.
To accommodate the preparations for and the entertaining of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, which will be officially held from Monday, July 25th through Thursday, July 28th, the Phillies will travel on their longest road trip of the season.
Beginning on Friday, July 22nd, the club will be on the road for a 10-game, 11-day, 3-city trip beginning with a weekend visit to the Pittsburgh Pirates for three games at PNC Park. That will be followed by a pair of four-gamers, first to Marlins Park to take on the Miami Marlins, and then to Turner Field to visit the Atlanta Braves.
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be held next year at Petco Park in San Diego on Tuesday, July 12th. Just prior to that game, the Phils will spend the weekend at Coors Field in Colorado, a nice time of year to get to visit the Mile-High City.
As has become a Phillies custom, the team will host a 2-game preseason series at Citizens Bank Park at the conclusion of spring training in Florida. Those two games are scheduled to take place on Friday, April 1st and Saturday, April 2nd. No opponent has yet been announced for those two exhibition dates.
2016 Philadelphia Phillies season ticket plans are now on sale. Six-game and three-game plans will go on sale later this month. Group tickets go on sale in the middle of December, and then finally single-game tickets go on sale in February.
You can anticipate the club to heavily market its new generation of stars from this point forward, with players such as Maikel Franco, Aaron Nola, Odubel Herrera, Ken Giles, and others featuring prominently in TV, internet, and print advertising as the season draws closer.