Clearwater becomes ‘little Philly’ in March. My boys and I were here for it.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — As we walked into BayCare Ballpark, Kieran turned to me, eyes shining.

“It’s good to be back,” he said.

My 9-year-old is an ardent Phillies fan, but when our team came up short in the World Series, he was heartbroken in only the way you can be when you’re disappointed by someone or something you love so deeply you see almost nothing else.

After we lost the series in Game 6 on Nov. 5, Kieran told me he hated baseball. He was so angry he cried, at first, and then he got melancholy. The so-close heartbreak of this last season battle-tested his fandom.

» READ MORE: ‘I hate baseball’: On the end of a magical Phillies ride, and what it means to be a fan

It took him three full days to ask me if we could return to spring training in March.

“For redemption, for last year,” he said.

Kieran made his first trip to Clearwater when he was just 2, and those memories are among his earliest and best, he tells me. But this year, I wasn’t sure — could I take the time off? Was it worth the airfare for a quick trip?

By January, I had caved, booking flights and buying tickets for the three of us. (My husband had a work trip, so ours was a mom-and-boys excursion.) We were initiating my youngest, Julian, 7, into the Clearwater club — it was Kieran’s and my first spring training jaunt since 2019, when Julian was just 3.

Spirits were high on the morning of our first game. There were snow flurries in the Philadelphia area the day before we left for Florida, but in sunny Clearwater, the temperature was a perfect 78 at first pitch.

The boys had a blast, standing at the fence on the grassy berm, hoping for a player to toss them a warm-up ball, or to land a home run shot.

Last season ended with my kid’s tears, but spring training, as always, is for high hopes: the warm days of a long season stretching out before us, the sounds of a ball popping in someone’s glove sounding especially sweet after a long winter.

And though some big names were out with injury or playing for World Baseball Classic teams, we agreed that it still felt like our ball club. We ended up seeing two games in our quick trip — the first, a 4-2 victory over the Blue Jays; the second, a 9-5 loss to the Red Sox.

Part of the charm is the “little Philly” feel. The map said Pinellas County, but I ran into seven people I knew, including four cousins who I had no idea were also trekking to Clearwater. I made friends with a couple from Delco who sat next to us — it was their first spring training trip; I recommended trying out Crabby Bill’s.

“Part of the charm is the ‘little Philly’ feel.”

The night before we caught our flight back home, both boys had already started making noises about “when we come next year.”

There were no amusement parks on this trip, no characters (save the world’s best mascot, and the minor-league Clearwater Threshers shark, Phinley, whom I made Kieran and our pal Leo pose with because it’s my job to embarrass them).

But the kids found the trip magical. I asked them why.

“I loved it. I liked that you let us have treats. I thought the Phillies looked great, they did great. We got to watch baseball, and it was really, really fun,” Julian said. (And yes, buddy, it is hard to argue with ice cream.)

“It was the best because the Phillies are my favorite team,” Kieran said. “It felt good to be back, to get a sense of baseball again. Baseball is a big part of me.”