The Phillies are returning to Williamsport. Major League Baseball announced on Sunday that the 2023 edition of the Little League Classic will feature the Phillies and Washington Nationals on Aug. 20.
It will be played, as always, at Muncy Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field — home of the Williamsport Crosscutters, formerly the Phillies’ Class A Short Season affiliate. Though just a couple hours’ drive northwest from Philadelphia, the Nationals will act as the home team.
The Little League Classic, which follows a Little League World Series game attended by the participating MLB teams earlier in the day, will be in its sixth installment when the Phillies and Nationals take the field. The annual event began in 2017, skipping a year during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Next year’s matchup was announced during the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles’ Little League Classic matchup on Sunday.
It’ll be the Phillies’ second time making the trip to Williamsport for the event, joining the Pittsburgh Pirates (fittingly) as the only teams to play in multiple Little League Classics so far. The Phillies lost as the “home team” to the visiting New York Mets in 2018 — a few hours after Rhys Hoskins met Big Al.