The Philadelphia Phillies teased the look in a social media post on Friday afternoon.
A small picture of Bryce Harper accompanying their lineup card made it clear: They’d be wearing blue-and-yellow uniforms on Friday night against the Atlanta Braves to open their biggest series of the season.
Wait, blue and yellow?
Yep, these are the Phillies‘ City Connect uniforms. You can see what the shirt looks like on the Phillies’ mascot in the photo at the top of the article.
It’s a sharp look, even if it’s nothing like the Phillies’ normal red-based color scheme.
Why Phillies Wear Blue and Yellow Uniforms
The blue-and-yellow colors used in the Phillies’ City Connect uniforms is a callback to the city flag of Philadelphia.
The city’s flag is made up of blue and yellow, and it hasn’t changed since it was created.
There are also a number of other shoutouts to the city in subtler ways on the uniform.
The lettering, for example, which spells out PHILLY across the chest — that’s supposed to look a bit like the lettering that would be found on a historical document, like the Declaration of independence.
There’s also a cracked pattern within that lettering to represent the Liberty Bell, which also shows up on the hat.
The Phillies wear these alternate uniforms for every home Friday game at Citizens Bank Park.
It just so happens that when they wear them on this Friday, the NL East Division is on the line.
The Phillies are trying to catch the Braves, and they’ll be hoping their City Connect uniforms bring the right vibe to the occasion.
Philadelphia isn’t the only team with intriguing uniforms in the City Connect category. The Red Sox have green uniforms that shoutout the Green Monster at Fenway Park, for example.
Still, it’s quite the sight to see the Phillies in a couple of colors that are nowhere near red.
Philadelphia does rock those throwback powder-blue uniforms sometimes, too, but these don’t have to do with those in any real correlative sense.
NL East Standings
The Braves enter Friday night with an 83-57 record. That puts them in first place in the NL East Division.
The Phillies begin the night at 79-61. They’re 4.0-games behind the Braves.
That margin means that even if Philadelphia were to pull off a weekend sweep, they’d still be a game behind Atlanta heading into next week.
Both teams have played 140 games entering Friday’s clash, meaning they have 22 left. That’s a lot of time for things to flip, but this series will go a long way.
In the reverse scenario mentioned above — if the Braves sweep — Atlanta could take a stranglehold on the top of the division.
The Marlins are also above .500, at 71-70, but they’re 12.5 games back of the Braves and their only playoff hope is a Wild Card spot.
The Nationals have been respectable but now sit 67-75, while the Mets bring up the basement in the NL East with a 63-77 record.
Phillies’ Blue and Yellow Uniforms Take Key Role for Braves Series