With the Rangers having won the American League pennant last night, MLB wasted no time in making Rangers World Series merch available. And one item in particular is puzzling at best, troubling at worst.
As you can see above, the Rangers’ World Series jerseys all show the Series patch on the chest, instead of its more traditional sleeve placement. Granted, these are just retail mock-ups, but it’s hard to imagine that they’d show the patch on the chest unless that’s where it’ll be worn in the actual games.
What could this mean? Let’s think this through:
The Rangers wear the Texas flag patch on the left sleeve, but their right sleeve is vacant (that’s the arrangement on all of their jerseys, not just the home whites):
So you’d think they could put the Series patch on the right sleeve. It seems plausible to surmise that if they’re not putting it there, it’s probably because something else will be going there.
Like, say, an ad?
Let me be clear: I do not know for a fact that the Rangers are adding a sleeve advertisement, so we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. MLB won’t talk to me about stuff like this (or anything else), so I can’t get an answer from them, but I’ll see what I can find out via other channels.
Over in the National League, where we still don’t know which team will be advancing to the Series, it’s worth noting that the Phillies do not have a sleeve advertiser, but the Diamondbacks do. In fact, the D-backs have patches on both sleeves — one ad, one team logo. So if they win tonight, they might have to put the Series patch on the chest. In that case, maybe the Rangers are wearing it on the chest for uni-uniformity. Or to put it another way, maybe the Series patch will always be on the chest going forward, so as not to interfere with a potential sleeve ad, whether or not a team is actually wearing a sleeve ad.
It’s all really stupid, of course — advertising tail wagging the uni dog.
The World Series is scheduled to begin on Friday night in Arlington.
Update: Twitter-er @Tully328 reminds me that the Rockies wore the Series patch on the chest of their vest jersey in 2007, which I’d forgotten about:
So there is precedent!
Worth noting that the right sleeve is where the WS patch lived their past two trips to the fall classic – ’10 and ’11.
Is there a rule that both teams have to wear the patch in the same location? If so, the Rangers’ arrangement would accommodate an opponent who has a sleeve ad.
No rule that I’m aware of.
Pretty amazing that the home field advantage for this year’s WS could be determined by virtue of the Rangers sweeping the Phillies in the teams’ three-game, season-opening series from March 30-April 2.
Since both teams finished with identical records (90-72), Rangers get home field by virtue of the sweep.
Of course, if Arizona wins tonight, Texas would get home field advantage because of a superior record.
So, we’ll have a FIVE seed hosting either a four or a six seed.
Is that any more or less silly than home field advantage being determined by the winner of the All-Star Game?
You have to have tie-breakers of some sort when teams have identical records. Head-to-head seems to make much more sense than an exhibition game featuring many players who are not involved in the playoffs. Additionally, as these teams are proving, home field advantage has not been much of an advantage this year!
I agree 100%.
Or you could just go back to alternating years.
The insane thing about the years when they used the All Star Game to determine home field advantage for the World Series was that it messed with your cheering enthusiasm. As a lifetime Orioles fan I’ve always cheered for the AL All Stars — but I would also want the Yankees to have every possible disadvantage in the World Series.
You can say opening weekend, or you can say mid-season when perhaps one team was not at its best or on a streak. Personally, I think MLB got this right. The best regular season record gets to host, with the first tie-breaker head-to-head. Simple and just fair. So much better than the exhibition game or if you go back to the alternating leagues hosting.
Oh, MLB absolutely got it right. Best record should determine home field.
My point was that, should Philly win, the way it was determined came down to a three game series played at the end of March. Just a schedule quirk, to be sure, but I’m sure neither team realized at the time just how important those first three games would be. Of course, as others have remarked, having home field advantage hasn’t really hurt either team thus far, though the Phillies have at least had it in two of their three series.
Also, somewhat ironically, Texas will have been the road team for all three American League series, but has home field for the WS.
I know traditionalists *hate* the expanded playoff format, but it’s actually made me much more interested during the post season.
“Just Get In”
Is it me, or is the Rockies World Series patch unbelievably slanted upwards?
Is it me, or is the Rockies World Series patch unbelievably slanted upwards?
The Rockies’ vest patches looked fairly straight as I recall. Might just be the angle of his shoulder in that moment.
Maybe MLB wants the WS logo on the front so it’s visible – like the Super Bowl logo is on football jerseys. Or – like Paul said – maybe the Rangers are gearing up for an ad on the right sleeve, and saying to sponsors, “You’re logo would look GREAT in that open space!”. :/
You had to throw that 2007 World Series pic in, didn’t you? I had tickets to Game 6 in Cleveland, which were printed once the Tribe went up 3-1 on Boston. But because Cleveland gonna Cleveland, the dropped 3 straight, and there was no WS games on the North Shore that year.
2007 was Rox against the Sox. I had tickets for game 5 at Coors Field, which didn’t happen because sweep.
Yeah, but the Indians printed and distributed tickets to season ticket holders after game 4 of the ALCS when they went up 3-1 on Boston. It wasn’t a case of getting ahead of themselves, but just the nature of ticket logistics 16 years ago. But I still have the ticket, so I can really confuse people who remember who really played in the WS. =D
That World Series patch is exactly where I expect MLB to eventually add a second jersey ad patch.
The placement of the WS patch for the Rangers further highlights the fact that they do not have player number on the front of their jerseys. Seems like so much empty space