Kansas City Royals Introduce New Worst Ad Patch In MLB

The San Diego Padres might have Motorola and the San Francisco Giants have Chevrolet. Even the Los Angeles Dodgers have turned to ad patches, adding a massive blue patch from the company that owns the organization.

Feb 21, 2024; Glendale, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto poses for a portrait during media day at Camelback Ranch. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Several teams have to this point, avoided the extra revenue offered by selling space on their jerseys. And the Kansas City Royals are no longer one of them. The Royals introduced a new partnership Wednesday with convenience store QuikTrip, which means a massive new logo patch placed on the jersey sleeve. 

And it looks terrible.

The patch and sponsorship deal is supposed to increase literacy in the Kansas City area. According to the team's official announcement on X, the "jersey partnership" is the first and only one "built around investing in the community."

But boy oh boy does it make their normally classic uniforms look absolutely horrible.

Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals

Ad Patches Taking Over Across MLB

Apparently the dark side of the Royals' offseason spending spree was this; an ad patch on one of baseball's best uniform sets.

READ: Kansas City Royals Show That Small Market MLB Teams Have Money To Spend

Just 12 teams have yet to add patches to their uniform sleeves, made even more frustrating by the inconsistent placement. The Dodgers, for example, alternate the patches on different sleeves based on the throwing arm of the player. Meaning right handed pitchers have the patch on the left sleeve, with lefties on the right sleeve. Gotta make sure to maximize value.

Ad patches, frustratingly, are here to stay. But can these teams at least try to incorporate the advertiser's logo in a way that isn't so jarring and off putting? The QuikTrip logo might fit in on say, the Braves jerseys. But with a white and blue set, it just looks horrible.