MLB’s New Uniforms Take Another Ridiculous Turn

It's hard to imagine a less successful rollout of a new product than Major League Baseball's new Nike-designed, Fanatics-produced uniform set. 

First, players expressed their frustrations with what they felt were thinner, lighter, lower quality jersey materials. Fans also noticed that the lettering and numbers on the new template were smaller, leading to bizarrely amateurish looking uniforms for several players with lengthy last names. 

READ: Players And Fans Are Very Unhappy With The New MLB Uniforms

All of that negative reaction though, came before people saw the pants. And the pants reveal, pun intended, made things much, much worse.

Images started hitting the internet from spring training photo days, showing what appeared to be a new, see through fabric. Unsurprisingly, that was not popular with players, while also leading to some, shall we say, uncomfortable images and even some players reverting back to last year's pants. MLB was even forced to issue a statement on the new pants, denying that there had been any changes.

READ: MLB Responds To See Through Pants Controversy

Some teams were so frustrated, they applied for waivers to avoid some of Nike's more confusing design elements. But that was a few days ago, and it seems as if we won't be able to go a day without more uniform controversy.

And so today we have the latest installment - the new gray jersey tops and road gray pants don't match. Yes, you're reading that right. The jerseys don't match.

Feb 25, 2024; West Palm Beach, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott II (91) steals second base against the Houston Astros during the seventh inning at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

How Did Nike And MLB Miss This?

The wild inconsistency in color, easily noticeable in the image above, was first noticed by Uni Watch. And it's yet another embarrassment for a league and company that's been hit by wave after wave of criticism for what should have been an easy uniform update.

So far, images have been limited to the St. Louis Cardinals, as they're the only team currently wearing their road gray jersey tops along with gray pants. Other teams playing as the road team have worn their spring training jersey tops, which usually feature the primary color instead of a gray base.

But as soon as you see the color difference, it's impossible not to notice it.

Feb 25, 2024; West Palm Beach, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Moises Gomez (36) runs from second base against the Houston Astros during the eighth inning at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Assuming Nike and MLB are correct about the pants fabrication not changing, what likely happened is that the new fabrication for the jersey tops creates a different shade of gray. But the pants are the same gray that matched the 2023 uniform set. Somehow, no one at Nike or MLB realized that this could cause a problem.

And Cardinals players have generally been wearing the new 2024 pants as well, identifiable by different belt loops, meaning the mismatched colors isn't simply down to wearing different years' uniforms together.

So here we are, weeks before the start of the regular season, and it's looking like we could see all 15 road teams wearing jersey tops and bottoms that don't match. How is this even possible? How did they mess this up so badly?

Somehow, the jerseys MLB claims are the most tested, technologically advanced uniforms in sporting history, don't match each other. Great work, all around.