Phillies release 2016 spring training schedule

With the baseball season freshly concluded - the Royals aren't even finished parading through Kansas City - teams are already starting to look ahead to next spring. The Phillies and their slew of young players, along with the first overall draft pick and top waiver wire positioning, should have at the very least a highly developmental offseason, though there does not seem to be a big free agent signing on the horizon.

Nevertheless, it will be a different crew - and Ryan Howard, probably - that gathers in Clearwater in March 2016, and today the Phillies released the schedule that will dictate their preseason.

Up first, as always, is a scrum against a collegiate squad, the University of Tampa. The Phillies will then play the AL East champion Blue Jays three times in their first five Grapefruit League games, with their first split squad match-up coming on March 3 against the Astros and Yankees. Overall, they will play 17 home games at Bright House Field.

This year, the Phillies will play two "Phillies Futures" games to conclude the preseason, a departure from the "On-Deck" series they had been played at Citizens Bank Park against the Pirates in recent year. Prospects and current Phillies will face off in two intrasquad games - one in Reading at the Fightin Phils' FirstEnergy Stadium on March 31 and the other on April 2 at Citizens Bank Park. In between, on April 1, the Phillies will take on the Orioles in an exhibition game at Citizens Bank Park as well.

The Phillies' regular season begins April 4 in Cincinnati.