Phillies to wear powder blue uniforms for NLDS in LA

The Phillies are mixing it up in Los Angeles.

Rather than wearing their typical gray road uniforms for Game 3 at Dodger Stadium, the Phils will sport their throwback, powder blue uniforms on Wednesday night.

If they force a Game 4 on Thursday, they will still wear the powder blues.

“[The players] wanted to wear them,” Rob Thomson said in LA Tuesday evening. “So, we got it done.”

The last time the Phillies wore powder blues on the road was July 15, 2017, in Milwaukee as part of the Brewers’ honoring of the 1982 American League championship team. The Phillies lost, 3-2, dropping their record to 29-60.

Ironically, Aaron Nola got the start that day, as he will on Wednesday in the same uniforms. In his six innings, he allowed seven hits, two earned runs, and two walks while striking out seven on 97 pitches.

The Phillies wore the uniforms as their primary road look from 1972 to 1988. The team reintroduced them as alternates in 2018, only wearing them on Thursday home games for “Throwback Thursday.”

Since their reemergence, the Phils have won them twice in the postseason: Game 5 of the 2022 World Series and Game 4 of the 2023 NLDS. They fell in the World Series game heartbreakingly, but took down Spencer Strider and the Braves in that NLDS battle, rocking the uniforms.

“We talked about it probably 10 days ago,” Thomson said. “Some of the players came to me because they like playing in them.”

The Phillies had to earn permission from the MLB to travel with the powder blues, which they are 6-1 while wearing in 2025, rather than the typically road grays, which they are 41-40 in this season.

In the regular season, as long as the home and road teams had contrasting uniform colors, it did not matter. In the postseason, however, the league is more stringent on it. Since the powder blues are technically home throwbacks and do not fit the usual “gray on the road” rule, the Phillies had to request permission from MLB in advance, and MLB permitted them.

“We had to go through a bunch of hoops with Major League Baseball just to get it cleared and okayed by Major League Baseball that we can wear those on the road,” Thomson said.

This was not a reactive decision to losing, as previously mentioned, the team asked 10 days ago. However, maybe the powder blues will save the season. Who knows, it might just be the spark.

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