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Marlins forced to stay in Delaware because NFL booked every Philadelphia hotel
This time of year is one of the craziest in sports. Playoffs are underway for both the NBA and the NHL. The NFL draft is just one day away. And baseball has been humming along for nearly a month. With all four major sports being so active, someone or something was bound to get the short end of the stick.
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Enter the Miami Marlins. They’re in Philadelphia for a series against the Phillies, only they’re not actually in Philadelphia.
The Marlins, who were in Seattle and San Diego before here, have to stay in Wilmington, Del., because the NFL booked all rooms in Philly.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) April 25, 2017
The NFL draft is happening in Philly this week, and it has sucked up every available hotel room in the city. So the Marlins are staying in Wilmington, Delaware, which is about 30 minutes away.
Meghan Montemurro of the News Journal spoke to a few members of the Marlins about the change in accommodations. Here’s what manager Don Mattingly had to say:
“It was a good sleep day [Monday],” Mattingly said. “A good day to sleep. Not quite as much to do in downtown [Wilmington] than Philly. But again, it was a good day to get some rest and get back on track to East Coast time from our trip.”
Montemurro also spoke to A.J. Ellis, who spent a few months with the Phillies last season after being traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“‘Uneventful’ is a pretty good word,” Ellis said. “There’s never really a bad off day. Regroup, recharge for the grind of the season.
There seems to be a theme here, and it’s that Wilmington is boring. Granted, it’s not nearly as bustling and exciting as Philadelphia, but Wilmington has its own charms. There’s the Brandywine Zoo and the Delaware Art Museum, a short distance from downtown. The city was founded in 1638, so there are numerous historical sites. And the area, the Brandywine Valley, is known for its wine.
So the Marlins can dig on Wilmington if they want to, but staying there and being willfully bored is definitely better than being in downtown Philly while the NFL draft gets underway. The city is essentially being taken over by the NFL and massively inconveniencing everyone who lives or works there. Philly’s Channel 6 Action News (which has the best theme song in the biz) outlined all four phases of road and transit closures, and it’s intense. The city is now in Phase 4, and the list of road closures is so insane that you essentially need a helicopter or a sherpa to get in or out of the city.
The Marlins might be bored in Wilmington, but it seems like they avoided a huge headache by skipping Philadelphia this time around.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
