Coming from someone who has a baseball-obsessed younger brother, knowing that baseball and fashion go hand-in-hand is a no-brainer. Most baseball fans were elated to learn about the Major League Baseball (MLB) plan to integrate these new, flashy, uniforms into the uniform rotation back in the 2021 MLB season. This was made possible through a partnership with MLB and Nike. 

Now, what is a City Connect uniform? Nike’s mission with these uniforms was, and still is, to highlight the personality of each city that MLB has a team in. This allows for the hometown communities to be better represented and also gain a stronger, more enthusiastic fanbase. Once again, we must remember that fashion and baseball ironically go together like peanut butter and jelly for some of these avid fans. 

The launch of the City Connect uniforms in 2021 included seven City Connect uniforms. The selected teams who got a City Connect uniform included the Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins and San Francisco Giants. 

Last year seven more teams were added to the group of teams with City Connect uniforms. The 2022 unveiling included uniforms for the Washington Nationals, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres. 

This year the teams that got City Connect uniforms were the Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates. 

With 20 teams having City Connect uniforms, that leaves only 10 more teams yet to receive their prized City Connect uniform. My thought is that Nike and MLB will unveil five new City Connect uniforms in both 2024 and 2025 to make up the final 10. 

Though some fans who live for the history and tradition of baseball are disappointed by the modern take on MLB uniforms, most fans have found this new tradition fun.  

I will now be ranking my top five and my bottom five City Connect uniforms. Though I wish I could rank all 21 and provide detailed descriptions of what makes each uniform so special, I know that I would bore the majority of Hoot readers by doing so. 

My favorite five City Connect uniform go as follows:

1. Boston Red Sox. Duh. No bias here. Well, maybe just a little. Being both a Sox fan and a runner. The Boston Athletic Association yellow with the 617 area code on the racing bib patch gets my approval. After the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, this uniform is a tribute to those lost and impacted in the tragic event. Being Boston Strong is something that all Bostonians can certainly agree on. The Sox also have an outstanding win record in these uniforms which some fans consider to be good luck. 
2. Washington Nationals. This one’s for you, Justin. The cherry blossom components of the uniform in combination with the gray textured jersey are absolutely fantastic in my opinion. 
3. San Diego Padres. It is impossible to deny how beautifully flashy the neon colorway on this uniform is. I also appreciate how this binational City Connect uniform pays homage to the millions of people who commute from San Diego to Tijuana each year. 
4. Chicago White Sox. I love this uniform so much that I did not even realize that it was a City Connect uniform until my brother pointed it out to me. I appreciate how classic this uniform looks while it highlights the Greystone architecture that the Southside of Chicago is home to. 
5. Colorado Rockies. Though this uniform may seem basic, there are small details that make it one of my favorites. The font used on the jersey was made to look like the font on Colorado license plates. Colorado takes serious pride in its nature, so the various colors used on the uniform and new logo on the hat are made to represent the pines, soil and sun. The mountain look on the jersey is also undeniably pretty sick. 

Ok now for my least favorite five. I had a hard time selecting these because all of the uniforms are wonderful. 

1. Milwaukee Brewers. I apologize, but “Brew Crew” sounds a little cheesy to me. I do like the airport abbreviation on the hat, but this uniform is not exactly notable to me.
2. Pittsburgh Pirates. The color is great, but I think they could have done more to highlight the city’s bridges and rivers. It is classic, but perhaps too classic to be considered a City Connect uniform. 
3. Los Angeles Dodgers. This is another one that I believe is too boring to be considered City Connect. You cannot beat the classics, but for a city with as much depth as LA? 
4. Baltimore Orioles. This one could have been so much better. With a state flag as cool as Maryland’s, I would have loved to have seen a crab on there with the flag. This uniform seems like an afterthought to me. 
5. Chicago Cubs. Okay, hear me out. The Cubs have such a distinctly rich history that this uniform could have included several more components to highlight that. Nike made the team’s bullpen and dugout jackets significantly better than the uniforms themselves.

There you have it, my most and least favorite City Connect uniforms as of right now. I am eagerly awaiting to see what Nike and MLB come up with for the remaining 10 uniforms and I hope that after reading this article, you are too!