The Main Event

March 12, 2020 – Major League Baseball shut down spring training and delayed the start of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Phillies players were sent home from camp in Clearwater, and the move ultimately led to the shortened 60-game 2020 season that began in late July.

In early March 2020, spring training was in full swing across Florida and Arizona. The Philadelphia Phillies were working out in Clearwater under new manager Joe Girardi, preparing for what many hoped would be a step forward after several rebuilding seasons. Bryce Harper was entering the second year of his massive contract, the pitching staff had been reshaped, and the organization was optimistic about the year ahead. Then, almost overnight, the sports world changed.

On March 11, the NBA abruptly suspended its season after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. That announcement sent shockwaves across the sports landscape. Within hours, leagues across North America began reassessing their plans. The following day, March 12, Major League Baseball halted spring training and announced that Opening Day would be delayed by at least two weeks. Players in Florida and Arizona were told to pack up and go home.

The shutdown was not limited to sports. Across the United States and much of the world, businesses began closing their doors. Schools transitioned to remote learning, restaurants were limited to takeout, and travel slowed dramatically. Entire industries paused. For baseball, a sport that had maintained its schedule through world wars and national crises, the sudden stop was unprecedented.

Baseball Hits Pause

When MLB suspended spring training, teams were scattered across two states. The Phillies had been playing exhibition games at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater. Within days of the announcement, the facility went quiet. Players returned to their homes around the country or remained in Florida to continue training individually while waiting for guidance.

Commissioner Rob Manfred initially suggested the delay might be brief, but as COVID-19 cases spread rapidly in the United States it became clear the situation would last much longer. Negotiations began between MLB and the MLB Players Association to determine how and when the season might resume. The discussions were complicated. Health protocols had to be developed, travel needed to be reconsidered, and there were major financial disagreements about how players would be paid in a shortened season.

Meanwhile, the minor leagues and much of the baseball ecosystem shut down entirely. In June 2020, Minor League Baseball officially canceled its entire season for the first time in modern history. Hundreds of minor league players lost the chance to play competitive games that year.

Life in Limbo

For several months, baseball existed in a strange state of uncertainty. Players worked out on their own or in small groups. Stadiums sat empty. Fans who normally filled ballparks every spring instead watched old games or classic highlights on television.

Across the sports world, similar disruptions were unfolding. The NHL paused its season. The NCAA canceled the entire March Madness basketball tournament. The Masters golf tournament was postponed. Even the Olympics in Tokyo were delayed until 2021. For sports fans, the spring of 2020 felt almost surreal.

Behind the scenes, MLB and public health experts developed a plan that would allow the season to move forward safely. The league adopted extensive testing protocols and limited travel by creating a schedule focused on regional opponents. Teams would primarily play games within their own divisions and against the corresponding division in the opposite league. The National League also adopted the designated hitter for the first time to reduce pitcher injuries during the unusual season.

The 60-Game Sprint

By late June, MLB and the players association agreed to a dramatically shortened season. Instead of the traditional 162 games, teams would play just 60. Training camps reopened in early July under the name “summer camp,” essentially replacing the final weeks of spring training.

Games finally returned on July 23 and 24, nearly four months after Opening Day was originally scheduled. Ballparks were empty except for players, coaches, and essential staff. Crowd noise was sometimes piped in artificially. Many stadiums placed cardboard cutouts of fans in the seats to create the illusion of attendance.

The season moved forward but not without challenges. Several teams experienced outbreaks, most notably the Miami Marlins during the first week of the season. That outbreak forced multiple postponements and disrupted schedules across the league. Even so, MLB managed to push through the shortened calendar.

To compensate for the shorter season, the league expanded the playoffs from 10 teams to 16 for that year. The unusual format created a frantic sprint where every game carried significant weight.

Philadelphia’s Strange Season

For the Phillies, 2020 was a year of transition and frustration. Joe Girardi was managing his first season with the club, and expectations were moderate but hopeful. The team opened the season at Citizens Bank Park on July 24 against the Miami Marlins, playing in front of an empty stadium that felt nothing like a normal Opening Day.

The season quickly took on an unpredictable rhythm. Series were postponed due to COVID-19 protocols. Teams shuffled players between the active roster and a newly created taxi squad. The Phillies dealt with inconsistent pitching, especially in the bullpen, which struggled throughout the short season.

Philadelphia finished the year with a 28–32 record. Because the schedule was so short, that mark left them just outside the expanded playoff field. Under normal circumstances the season might have allowed time for a turnaround, but the 60-game sprint left little margin for error.

Despite the strange conditions, the league successfully completed the season. The playoffs were held in bubble-style environments for the later rounds, and the Los Angeles Dodgers eventually won the World Series in late October.

The 2020 season remains one of the most unusual chapters in baseball history. Ballparks were silent, schedules were improvised, and players navigated an environment unlike anything the sport had seen before. Yet the game endured. By 2021, fans began returning to stadiums and baseball slowly returned to its familiar rhythm, marking the end of one of the strangest interruptions the sport had ever faced.

Philadelphia Baseball Events for March 12

  • March 12, 1944 – Williamsport, Pennsylvania rejoined the Eastern League after local supporters raised more than $15,000 to secure a franchise and relocate the former Springfield club. The move restored the city as a Class-A stop within organized baseball and was part of the wartime reshaping of the minor leagues connected to major league organizations including Philadelphia.
  • March 12, 1980 – Former Phillies slugger Chuck Klein was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Klein starred for Philadelphia during the late 1920s and early 1930s, winning the 1932 National League MVP award and finishing his career as one of the greatest hitters in franchise history.
  • March 12, 2018 – The Phillies agreed to terms with free agent right-handed pitcher Jake Arrieta on a three-year, $75 million contract. The signing brought the 2015 National League Cy Young Award winner to Philadelphia to anchor a young rotation during the club’s rebuilding period.

ICYMI

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Philadelphia Baseball Birthdays for March 12

  • Billy Hulen (born 1870) – An infielder who played for the Philadelphia Phillies during the 1896 season. Hulen played 88 games and hit .265/.368/.360/.728. He went on to play for the Washington Senators in 1899.
  • George McAvoy (born 1884) – A catcher who played 16 minor league seasons, but got just one at-bat in the majors as a pinch-hitter and it came with the Phillies in 1914; he grounded out.
  • Rene Monteagudo (born 1916) – A Cuban left-handed pitcher and outfielder who played in 114 games with the Phillies in 1945. In 193 at-bats he hit .301/.389/.322/.711 and posted a 7.49 ERA in 14 relief appearances.
  • Johnny Callison (born 1939) – Played 16 seasons in the majors, 10 of them with the Phillies. A three-time All-Star outfielder for the Phillies from 1960–1969, Callison was one of the club’s top stars of the 1960s and is remembered nationally for hitting the dramatic walk-off home run in the 1964 All-Star Game at Shea Stadium.
  • Dale Murphy (born 1956) – A two-time National League MVP, five-time Gold Glove, and four-time Silver Slugger winner, Murphy played 15 seasons with the Braves before being traded to Philadelphia along with Tommy Greene in 1990. Murphy played two-plus seasons in Philadelphia and finished his career with Colorado in 1993 as one of the most respected players of his era.
  • Trent Farquhar (born 2001) – Minor league infielder signed by the Phillies as an undrafted free agent in 2023. In 172 minor league games, Farquhar has hit 3 home runs and driven in 52 with a slash line of: .250/.391/.328/.719.

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