There’s no way that Dodger blue can beat Powder blue, right? That’s what the Phillies hope as they slip into their cozy feeling throwback powder blue uniforms for Game 3 Wednesday night in Los Angeles. For the record, the wardrobe decision is not a response to losing the first two games in Philly; it has actually been in the works for a while.
In every Major League and Minor League clubhouse are large posters stipulating exactly which uniforms must be worn. To vary from the norm, a team needs the approval of Major League Baseball and that is not a simple task handled by a quick exchange of emails. Minor League teams love to run theme nights and such and use various jerseys for the theme or special occasion. Even though the uniforms are usually auctioned off for charity, MLB must approve everything about them; the color scheme, logo, size of any letters or numbers, everything.
Walker Buehler pitches for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs wearing a theme night jersey. This night the IronPigs were known as the Cornholers. MLB had to approve every little detail about the jerseys before they could be worn and later auctioned off for charity. (Photo by Cheryl Pursell)
“We talked about, I guess probably 10 days ago,” manager Rob Thomson told reporters. “Some of the players came to me because they like playing in them. We had to go through a bunch of hoops with Major League Baseball just to get it cleared, just to get it okayed by Major League Baseball that we can wear those on the road. They want to wear them, so we got it done.”
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Kyle Schwarber said the idea has actually been ruminating for longer than Thomson pointed out: “We’ve kind of had a discussion about it for a while now, just here and there, debating about it the last couple years. It’s just kind of the thing that it worked out now, and I think we’re excited about it. We like wearing these uniforms. It’s not like it’s a superstitious thing or anything like that. We just like the way they look, like the way they feel.”
The Phillies debuted the uniforms as their primary road uniform in in 1972 and wore them through the 1988 season, which of course means that they wore them in the postseason in those years. The Phillies brought back the uniforms in 2018 and have worn them twice before in the postseason, but neither time was on the road. Game 5 of the 2022 World Series was played in Philadelphia on November 3rd – a Thursday – and they wore them against the Houston Astros. Unfortunately, they lost the game 3-2. The following postseason the Phillies also had a Thursday home game against the Atlanta Braves and wore the powder blue uniforms. That night the Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 3-1.
Since the team dropped the powder blue color scheme they have not worn them on the road, opting instead for the basic all gray uniform, until tonight’s Game 3 of the NLDS. Perhaps the Phillies will now request to be able to wear the uniforms for at least some road games in 2026; especially if they win the next two games in L.A.
The Phillies are one of the more conservative teams when it comes to alternative style jerseys or full uniforms and tend to stick pretty close to the basics.
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