A classic October look is back under the lights on the road tonight.
The Philadelphia Phillies will wear their powder blue throwbacks for Game 3 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium tonight (9 p.m. ET on TBS), their first road appearance in the set since a throwback weekend with the Brewers at Milwaukee in 2017. After several years of reserving the set for Thursday home dates, the club secured league approval in June to use them on the road, then received a separate green light “weeks ago” for postseason use. Once the Los Angeles Dodgers confirmed they’d be in traditional home whites (which, let’s be honest, wasn’t a tough one to predict), the Phillies packed the blues and left the road greys at home.
“It’s not like it’s a superstitious thing or anything like that,” Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber said to MLB.com. “We just like the way they look, like the way they feel. They were picked out before the series, so we’re happy that we’re wearing them. Excited to change it up a little bit. Get out of the greys and have a different road uniform.”
The powder blue set is similar to the road uniforms worn from 1972 to 1988. The Phillies wore it occasionally in 2017 and 2018 before making it an official alternate set in 2019. The design features a powder blue base with burgundy (or “Phillies maroon”) striping, logos, and numbers. It’s the uniform the club wore during the Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton era, as well as during their 1980 World Series Championship and 1983 NL pennant-winning seasons. If the Phillies win Game 3 tonight, they’ll run the blues back for Game 4 tomorrow.
Phillies Director of Clubhouse Services Phil Sheridan initiated the road request in June, confirmed postseason eligibility before the regular season ended, and checked with L.A. once the matchup materialized. Bryce Harper, who helped push for the team to wear red tops on the road in 2021, was involved with this one, too: “I’ve been messing around with Phil about it for two, three years… then they sent me to talk to everybody,” he joked to MLB.com.
“I think wearing grey all the time is just boring,” Harper said back in 2021. Clearly, he still feels that way today.
The Phillies last wore the powder blues in the Postseason for Game 4 of the 2023 NLDS when they knocked out the Atlanta Braves. They also wore them in Game 5 of the 2022 World Series, a loss to the Houston Astros.
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