The Philadelphia Phillies announced their 2022 Spring Training schedule on Friday — the day after the lockout ended with a new Collective Bargaining Agreement — and the action is right around the corner.
The spring opener is set for one week from Friday, with the Phillies traveling to Lakeland, Fla. on March 18 to take on the Detroit Tigers. Time of first pitch has yet to be determined.
That will be the first of 19 Spring Training games for the Phillies — five against Detroit, four against the Toronto Blue Jays, four against the New York Yankees, two against the Pittsburgh Pirates, two against the Baltimore Orioles, one against the Atlanta Braves and one against the Tampa Bay Rays. It’s a similar structure to the “pod” format in 2021, where Grapefruit League teams were placed into three different groups based on location; the Phillies are in the Tampa pod again for 2022.
Nine of those 19 games will be played at the Phillies’ home of BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla. The spring home opener is March 19 against the Blue Jays.
Because MLB pushed 2022 Opening Day back a week during the lockout, and because the league and MLB Players Association agreed to play a full 162 games, the Spring Training schedule is shorter than usual. The Phillies were originally scheduled back in August to play 34 exhibition games (including split-squad games) over 32 days; the modified 19-game schedule will be spread across 20 days.
That lone game against the Rays is the spring finale, which will take place at the Rays’ regular-season home of Tropicana Field on April 6.