Ahead of the Phillies’ likely final home game of the season, we look back at some of the unique things we will never forget from 2020
The 2020 Philadelphia Phillies season, which began with the hire of well-respected manager Joe Girardi and the unpopular costume change to the beloved Phillie Phanatic mascot, had its headlines quickly shift to doubt and uncertainty amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Yet, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association worked together to come up with a way to play some semblance of a season — all the while keeping the health and safety of players, coaches, and staff the top priority. For the most part, their efforts were successful.
Barring an Atlanta Braves collapse and a tremendous finish for the Girardi-led Phillies over their final eight games, Sunday’s series finale — behind rookie RHP Adonis Medina for his MLB debut — will likely mark their final 2020 home game.
Only the top four teams in the National League would host the three-game Wild Card Series, before those who advance to the NLDS then report to Texas for the remainder of postseason play. Given the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres seemingly have the Nos. 1 and 4 seeds all but clinched, they would have to be the National League East championships to host their first postseason game since the tragic ending to the 2011 NLDS.
We will never forget 2020 for a lot of reasons. For baseball fans, in particular, some will mark it down with an asterisk in the record books; but for all, there will be memories that will carry with them for a lifetime.
Read through for five things we will never forget about the Phillies’ 2020 home slate.
The Phillie Phanatic entertains amongst the cardboard cutout fans (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
5. Cardboard cutouts
News first broke in late June that the Phillies were exploring an application that would allow fans to submit a photo to have a cardboard cutout created of their likeness.
And, one week before Opening Day, Phillies Executive Vice President Dave Bucksaid he hopes the Phillies receive a lot of fan submissions and that they think it’s “kind of fun.”
Well, with more than 10,000 cutouts that ultimately were placed in seats at Citizens Bank Park, filling the lower bowl from foul pole to foul pole and throughout the outfield, it is safe to say that the effort was a success — with proceeds benefiting Phillies Charities.
Phillies fans really came through, too; most other teams barely could fill even a section with cutouts, let alone nearly one-quarter of their stadium capacity.
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There were some greats things about the cutouts that came with them. One diehard fan even used the cutouts to propose to his girlfriend. In late August, the Phillies unveiled a 360-degree “fan cam view,” where fans who purchased a cutout could find and tag themselves.
The Phillies also had themes with the cutouts, including their great initiative throughout September placing gold-background cutouts with children to raise awareness of childhood cancer. When the Phillies celebrated the 40-year reunion of the 1980 World Series champions, they placed cardboard cutouts in the right-field second deck of every member from the team. During their season-opening homestead, the Phillies honored healthcare workers by giving them “first dibs” to have a cutout, behind home plate.
Kudos for the Phillies for hitting the cardboard cutouts “out of the board,” and for their staff for volunteering countless hours for them to be installed in time.
4. The Miami Marlins COVID-19 scare
As much as the anticipation grew ever since MLB and the MLBPA announced a 60-game 2020 season would take place beginning July 23 and 24, it nearly all went for naught because of the COVID-19 scare between the Phillies and Miami Marlins.
Veteran outfielder Andrew McCutchen was disappointed about the team’s fourth game of the season; not so much about the result opposite Cy Young contender Gerrit Cole, but for the reason why it took place a week later than it should have.
McCutchen voiced his thoughts about the Phillies’ games being postponed due to the Marlins’ COVID-19 outbreak to The Athletic’s “Starkville” podcast. “I’m sitting here at home, watching 28 to 27 to 26 other teams play, and we’re sitting at home — all [testing] negative by the way,” he said. “And we have to watch this happen while we did nothing wrong. So for me, that was very upsetting. It was very upsetting that we did everything right, and we were still the ones paying for it.”
Essentially, there had been reports that Marlins players allegedly did not properly socially distance while in Atlanta for a summer camp exhibition game. Jorge Alfaro was pulled from starting in the opening series, and both teams reportedly still decided to play a game despite knowing that a possible COVID-19 scare was building behind the scenes.
No one seems to know what actually took place and the truth; but, thankfully, anyone who did test positive during this early-season scare has returned the health.
3. The Phanatic still lives on
No fans, no problem for the Phillie Phanatic. Instead of entertaining fans in person, he did a great job doing so via the television screens.
The Phanatic’s routines never get old, either. Just recently, he was seen covering up a cutout of the infamous 1993 World Series Blue Jays player Joe Carter with a Phillies t-shirt, headband, scarf, and hat. Earlier last week, the Phanatic was spotted in the stands near a Mets fan cutout, before he dumped a bucket of popcorn onto it — just like he would do if the cutout was a real person.
The Phillies were supposed to play a four-game home-and-home set against the New York Yankees following their season-opening Marlins series. Since the set got postponed, eventually the series shifted to just one of the originally scheduled two games behind played at Yankee Stadium.
Due to scheduling, the Phillies wound up playing 16 of their first 17 games at home through August 16, albeit they had gone just 8-9 in that stretch. Then, the team embarked on a 10-game road trip that wound up only being nine games, with the Phillies and Nationals agreeing to postpone a game in protest of the Jacob Blake shooting.
All in all, the seven-inning doubleheader games and other rules unique to the 2020 season, surely will not be forgotten either — including the runner on second in extra-innings rule. The Phillies finally benefited from the doubleheader this past Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays, sweeping both games for their first such twin bill performance since 2012.
Fans of the Philadelphia Phillies known as the Phandemic Krew (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /
1. The Phandemic Krew
Last but not least, who could forget the Phandemic Krew? Fans may have not been allowed inside Citizens Bank Park, but this passionate group of fans still made its presence seen and heard just beyond the center field gates in Ashburn Alley.
Thanks to the efforts of two southern New Jersey residents, Oscar Alvarado, of Audubon, and Brett MacMinn, of Haddon Township, the Philadelphia fan still was represented.
Before this year, I am not quite sure fans even knew there was a gate where the Krew gathered, trying to catch a glimpse of live game action.
The Krew may have started small in the opening Miami Marlins and New York Yankees series — including when Aaron Boone complained to umpires about them making too much noise — but come the final home series against the Toronto Blue Jays, they were anything but. They began selling T-shirts and other gear benefiting Phillies Charities, and will soon have their own bobblehead to go along with it.
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The group is the embodiment of the true Philadelphia Phillies fan. Diehards. Being there for the team, through good times and bad. Making sure the other team hears it, and even the Phillies themselves when things are not done the right way. You have to love it.
It will be interesting to see if the Krew gathers for any potential postseason games, even with the Phillies playing in either Houston or Arlington, Texas.
We will never forget the Phandemic Krew, cardboard, cutouts, you name it, about the 2020 Phillies season. And, better yet, the final chapter has yet to be written.
