CLEARWATER, Fla. - As one sports season ends, a new one is about to begin.
"We've got three semi-trailers loaded up and ready to unload here and get ready for spring training this week," Robert Stretch, media manager for the Clearwater Threshers, said.
For the 80th year, the Philadelphia Phillies are about to make Clearwater their home for the next 44 days for spring training.
What they're saying:
"The Phillies are a big part of the Clearwater community here and it sure does feel good. The Phillies are here year-round. We've also got a minor league baseball team here in the summer and of course spring training the next few weeks and month of that couldn't be more exciting with everybody coming to visit," Stretch said.
In fact, Philly is one of 15 major league teams that call Florida their spring training home, known as the Grapefruit League.
"It’s amazing, you know, just here in Tampa Bay, Pinellas County last year after the hurricanes, we really needed those fans to come back for the Phillies, the Yankees, the Blue Jays to come to Tampa Bay, and they did. They were going to come back to enjoy spring training whether our beaches were fully repaired or not, and they in heavy numbers, so here in Clearwater we had a record spring, mainly because of the loyalty of our baseball fans," Bruce Rector, mayor of Clearwater, said.
Dig deeper:
The reigning NL East champions are driving thousands of pieces of equipment more than 1,000 miles, making sure everything will be all ready to go at BayCare Ballpark.
"We’ve got a lot of equipment on the truck. We've got everything from the Phanatic’s hot dog launcher to baseballs," Stretch said.
"To load the truck up, I mean it takes months. I mean everything, and then we get down here and it takes, I would say before we actually have our everything where we need it, probably take four or five days. But the clubhouse is main priority," Tim Schmidt, clubhouse attendant for the Phillies, said.
Hoping to make the start of the 2026 season a home run in Florida.
"We got a good group of guys this year. I think everybody, the chemistry's there, and I think we all know the main goal is to win the East and then bring home a championship to Philadelphia," Schmidt said.
For more information on the Phillies spring training season, click here.
The Source: Information for this story was gathered from interviews with the mayor of Clearwater and members of the Philadelphia Phillies and Clearwater Threshers organizations.