Phillies Postpone Opening Day With Braves Due to Weather
The Philadelphia Phillies will now open their season on Friday afternoon as they renew their rivalry with the Atlanta Braves.
The Philadelphia Phillies announced on Wednesday that they would postpone their Opening Day game with the Atlanta Braves from Thursday to Friday due to the threat of severe weather on the east coast.
The opener is now set for 3:05 p.m. on Friday. Tickets and parking that fans were set to use on Thursday can be used on Friday.
The Phillies were not the only team to postpone their opener. The New York Mets did the same thing on Wednesday, pushing Thursday’s game with Milwaukee to Friday.
Both the Phillies and the Mets had a day off after the openers, giving team officials the flexibility to make the move.
Thursday’s forecast calls for rain all afternoon.
The Phillies and Braves are renewing acquaintances after the Braves won the National League East and the Phillies finished second last season, which also happened in 2022. In each of the last two postseasons the Phillies have picked off the Braves to advance.
The Braves won the 2021 World Series. The Phillies went to the 2022 World Series but lost to the Houston Astros. Last year the Phillies lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in seven games in the NL Championship Series.
While the postponement gives the Phillies and Braves an extra day of rest, it does force the Phillies to juggle their starting rotation.
With a Thursday opener and a Friday off day, the Phillies had planned to start Zack Wheeler in the season opener and then in the season’s fifth game, thanks to the off day.
Wheeler will still start the opener, but now the Phillies must find a replacement for Tuesday. Per The Athletic, the Phillies wanted to pitch Wheeler in that fifth game, on normal rest, so that Spencer Turnbull, the expected fifth starter, could stretch out a bit more and be ready for the season’s sixth game.
Manager Rob Thomson said the team had a backup plan earlier this week but didn’t say what that plan was.
