Phillies Change Spring Training Schedule
By Matt Veasey
The Philadelphia Phillies have made changes to their 2016 spring training schedule.
While three of the changes simply involve changes to the Phils’ opponents, the final two changes at the end of March directly involve a location switch. The change in venues of those two games could have ramifications for fans traveling to Clearwater to watch the team play.
According to MLB.com Phillies insider Todd Zolecki, the first three are changes to games scheduled for Bright House Field. The games will remain in Clearwater, but the opponent has changed on March 8th from the Minnesota Twins to the Pittsburgh Pirates. On March 22nd, those Twins will come in to play instead of the Atlanta Braves. Finally on March 30th, the Phils will take on the Houston Astros instead of the New York Yankees.
Two games have actually been switched as to the venue. On March 28th, the Phillies were originally scheduled to host the Baltimore Orioles at Bright House Field. Instead, the Phillies will now play in Dunedin against the host Toronto Blue Jays on that date.
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Hopefully fans who might be losing out on that game will still be in Clearwater, and can simply switch to the following day. On March 29th, the club was originally scheduled to play in Dunedin against the Jays. Now they will be at home in Clearwater to take on the Yanks.
Fans losing that March 28th game cannot switch to the day before, as the Phillies are on the road that day as well. They will, however, be at home for games with the Blue Jays on March 25th, and the Detroit Tigers on March 26th, so those make for possible switches, if those fans are in Clearwater for the weekend.
The final chance to see the team down in Florida will be on Wednesday, March 30th in Clearwater when the Phils host the Astros in a 1:05pm game at Bright House Field. Following that game, the club heads north for three final exhibitions, one in Reading, and two at Citizens Bank Park.
The 2016 regular season will open for the team with a visit to Great American Ball Park to take on the host Cincinnati Reds on Monday, April 4th. The home opener will come one week later. On Monday, April 11th, the Phils will host the San Diego Padres. The full schedules can be found here: Phillies 2016 Spring Training Schedule and Phillies 2016 Regular Season Schedule.