
Good morning, Uni Watchers, and a Happy Humpday to all!
While the hot stove has been pretty cold, uniform-wise, this past fall and winter, there have been some new developments on the “City Connect” uniform front.
First, the Red Sox announced they’d be getting a new CC this season, but keeping their original CC uniform going forward, thus becoming the first MLB team to have two CC’s simultaneously. The club announced it would also be eliminating their navy blue road alternate jersey, to make room for the CC. (MLB now has a “4 + 1” policy for team uniforms: each club can have up to four uniforms or alternate jerseys: a home, a road, and up to two alternates, also known as the “core four.” In addition, every team — with the exception of the Yankees and Athletics — will have a CC uniform — the “+ 1” part of the equation.) The Red Sox will slot their former blue/yellow CC uniform into one of the alternate slots, while the new CC moves to the +1. Earlier this year, it was reported that the Red Sox’ new CC will be green.
And just within the past week, the Chicago Cubs unveiled a new uniform, which I originally referred to as a CC, but which the team is calling a “Blues Alternate”. But that new uniform, no matter what it’s called, still bears all the hallmarks of a CC uniform (limited use, storytelling, connection to the City in said storytelling, etc.). At the time of the announcement, the Cubs also noted they will no longer wear their original “Wrigleyville” City Connect uniforms.
Since the end of last season, several other teams have announced they’ll be dropping their original CC uniforms for 2025, though none have indicated (yet) they will be replacing them going forward.
Without getting too far into the weeds, the MLB CC program rollout has been a mess. When first announced for the 2021 season, every team was supposed to have a CC within three years. After the three years were up, teams would then get new CCs. Rinse and repeat every three years.
If one does the math, with 30 teams, it stands to reason MLB (and Nike) would introduce around 10 CCs per year, in order to meet the three-year cycle, but from the start it became apparent the program wasn’t going to meet those goals. Seven CCs were introduced in the first year, seven in the second (leaving 16 remaining), but only six CCs were introduced in 2023. Not only that, but several teams introduced changes to their CCs. That left 10 teams still without CCs for 2024. As we know, the A’s and Yankees did not get CCs (the Yankees flat-out refused to participate, and the A’s, who will be without a permanent city for a couple more years, wouldn’t have been an ideal candidate for a City Connect). The Dodgers — one of the seven teams to receive a CC in the first year — were the only team to be given a second-generation CC.
All of which leads us up to 2025. Obviously the CC program is going to continue — the Red Sox have already confirmed they’ll be getting a second generation CC in 2025 — but with the Cubs new uniform unveiling, will they also be getting a true CC, or is the new “Blues Alternate” going to basically serve in that capacity? Is the CC program beginning to evolve into a “special” alternate uniform?
We’ll probably have answers to these questions soon. But in the meantime, with every team but the Yankees and Athletics having a CC uniform, should any of them “keep” their CC, and make it an alternate as the Red Sox have done? I happened to think the Sawx CC was excellent, and the team compiled an ungodly Win/Loss record while wearing them. So, I’m 100% behind the Sox keeping their blue/yellow “Boston Marathon” uniform.
But what about the rest of MLB? Are there any teams whose CC uniforms are good enough to keep, once their time as a CC has ended? Last summer, I ranked all the CC uniforms, so I’ll use that as the basis for questioning whether any should be kept in a team’s regular uniform rotation if they introduce a new CC (or whatever term a team wants to call a CC-adjacent uniform, such as “Blues Alternate”). But rather than just say “well, my top 5 are the only ones worth keeping,” I reassessed every uniform, taking into account not just my preferences, but also those I may not have been as keen on originally.
So here then, in no particular order, are my thoughts on what CCs are probably or definitely worth keeping permanently.

I include this for two reasons, both of which I touched on above. They look good and they team has been quite successful while wearing them. They’ve already announced they’re keeping this so it’s a no-brainer.

The Guardians CC is at least as good, if not better, than any of the Cleveland Guardians’ current uniforms (and they recently tweaked all of their core four uniforms for 2025). But this CC was only introduced last year, so it’s around for at least two more seasons. If the Guardians simply change the giant “CLE” wordmark to a smaller “CLEVELAND,” they could use it as the basis for a future redesign. This uni is that good. And they should find a place for it to be part of the core four when its time as a CC has run its course.

I wasn’t — and still am not — the biggest fan of this uniform, but it’s grown on me since it was first introduced. I think part of that is I’m not a huge fan of red, and IMO it only pairs well with baby blue when the red is in small amounts. But I love the tribute to the Havana Sugar Kings, and I know it’s also quite popular with fans (and a lot of Uni Watchers as well). I’d love it if the team were to drop their black alternate jersey and push this one to the core four.

This is another one I didn’t rank particularly highly, but I have grown to be rather fond of over time. Not only is this a pretty good-looking uniform in general, it’s miles better than any of their regular uniforms. The Angels are currently only at “3 + 1” (home, road, red alternate plus this CC), so if they do receive a new CC, they have an open slot for another alternate in their core four, and this would be nice to keep around.

This has been, and continues to be, my favorite CC uniform — and it would be a fantastic alternate. Like the Angels, the White Sox are only at 3 + 1, so if they were to get a new CC (or any other CC-adjacent alternate), this one could also be moved into the open alternate spot. I’d actually like the Sox to make these road alternates, removing the “Southside” and replacing it with “Chicago.”
But that’s my opinion. What do you guys think? Should any teams try to keep their original CCs as part of their core four set moving forward? If so, which unis do you think fall into the “keep” category?
Fire away.
Honestly I think 4 is too many. My ideal is white home, grey road, and a single alt worn only on a single specific day of the week at home (Friday night, Sunday, w/e).
That said I don’t think any of the CC’s have been good enough to serve as a permanent alt.
I agree with Alex, none were great. I did like the White Sox, Royals, and Rockies- heck I fed the beast by buying a Rockies cap.
But as a whole they should be in the dustbin of history. Unfortunately, I think we will have an eternal recurrence of the same production of alternative garbage.
There are 162 games in a season. That gives plenty of times to break out alts while still having regular unis.
I get that, but it’s not really the point. While some teams do manage to make 4 good looking jerseys (I think the Red Sox navy alt they’re ditching looked great), it often just gets goofy. And the CC’s are on another level of silly. I think 3 is enough. It’s a middle ground between what people in charge of MLB merch want to do, and what strict traditionalists like the Yankees want to do.
They don’t all have to be good, it’s like batting averages tbh. The point is to be fun and try to make the game more popular because let’s be honest baseball has an old fanbase. Jerseys that approach the level of Streetwear can help with that to an extent — like those Tampa Bay ones — those were fire
There is 162 games. 81 home and 81 on the road. Home Jersey, road jersey, alternate jerseys, throw backs, CCs, Players weekend, Memorial Day, July 4th, Spanish night jersey, Jackie Robinson Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc. Really not wearing the primary jerseys as much as you think. Home, Road and one home and one road alternate is more than enough
I my opinion, all teams should be like the Yankees and say no to the CC program. I do like the Marlins CC mainly because the Marlins to me don’t have a signature look. The teal was nice but not worn long enough.
There are a couple more that could be decent with minor tweaks; Cleveland and St. Louis. Cleveland has a very nice look other than the CLE. Love the hat and the fact the uniform uses blue rather than red. The Lou on the Cardinals uniform ruins what could be a nice uniform. Also the Card’s cap looks like something you would buy at a flea market or gas station.
CC Unis belong in the trash heap of history.
GTGFTS
SB XXVII
The Bills’ day is about to go from bad to worse.
Cowboys win 52-17.
Does MLB still allow turn back the clock uniforms? I seem to recall this insane 4+1 policy is resulting in lots of ridiculous looks – all equally bad – while teams that want to throw it back can’t do so.
I was under the impression that throwbacks were still fine, just their use was more limited. Meaning you can’t wear them regularly, and there was also an arbitrary limit to how many times you can wear them in a season.
Swap out CLE for Cleveland or Guardians and that is a great uniform. The stupid trend of scorebug codes as uniform logos is brutal, and it ruins an otherwise great look.
While I am a traditionalist white at home, gray on the road, I will say the White Sox is good for what it is, so that could stay.
I also love the Angels design. The font should be their standard design. The asymmetric sleeve stripes and diamond around the numbers aren’t ideal, but they don’t ruin the uniform. I think this is the best of CC.
The White Sox’ CC uniforms look great but are inextricably linked to the Tim Anderson ‘Change The Game’ era that has long passed and was a horribly failed rebuild. They should move on, unfortunately.
GTGFTU: 27 Oct 1974, Week 7 – Los Angeles Rams 20 – 13 New York Jets
Boston has a good City Connect because the Marathon is iconic to the city and recognizable around the world.
I love the CWS dark pinstripes as a canvas for an alternate, regular Sox logos and all
Call the Miami Sugar Kings the straight throwback that it is, and it’s cool, sure why not
And honestly that’s it, I don’t even care about Cleveland and I don’t care for Anaheim. (Anaheim’s uniforms used to be great, but they have the same dang logo in too many places. Like, I like a pepperoni pizza, but when it’s more pepperoni than pizza, I’m not sure it’s for me)
I want to like the Washington cherry blossoms, but ironically cherry blossom season doesn’t last long enough in the baseball season. (But hey, if the Tigers want a spring training only CC to pay tribute to strawberry season in Lakeland, go wild! I hear they serve strawberry shortcake from walking aisle vendors)
I’m an alternate hater at baseline so my list is shorter than Phil’s. But like he said, if we stay in reality and assume it’s here to stay, there you go
Keep:
Diamondbacks, Red Sox, Cubs, White Sox, Guardians, Rockies, Astros, Royals, Angels, Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Padres, Mariners, Cardinals, Rangers, Nationals
Drop:
Braves (the throwbacks were better), Orioles (just meh), Reds (even I can agree that the BFBS and legibility issues ruin this), Tigers (just bad), Brewers (kinda goofy), Twins (poor execution), Phillies (don’t hate it as much as most, but still not good), Pirates (can be so much better), Giants (just bad), Rays (not for me), Blue Jays (see Reds’ reasoning)
Brewers CC looks the most like a MiLB gimmick jersey I’ve ever seen allowed in MLB. It’s crazy that got approved.
The Brewers’ City Connect is actually very popular here in Wisconsin. I’m not a big fan; I never liked powder blue (I know that is sacrilege to say on this site) and the hat feels like a small town saying “we really are a big city — look, we have an airport code AND our own area code!”
But I will confess to liking the baseball grill. If that were the main look, on a royal blue background, I could get behind it.
“The Brewers’ City Connect is actually very popular here in Wisconsin”
That’s kinda the idea with these. They’re designed to move retail merch to fans — and especially fans of a particular team who have gone to (apparent) lengths to include popular things about each city — but not just fans of the team, but also residents of the city who feel a certain “pride” in repping their hometown. It’s a genius marketing move by Nike, but that doesn’t mean the uniforms are any good (though in a few rare cases, some are good enough to keep around). In some instances, I bet they even sell these jerseys to tourists who aren’t buying it because they’re fans of the team, but who think the jersey works well as a fashion statement or even just as a souvenir.
I’m not sure how “popular” the Mets CC jersey is with New Yorkers, but I’ve definitely seen several “in the wild” (not at the ball park) and in some cases, they were definitely worn simply as fashion statements.
There is an entire subculture (that probably hates Uni Watch) who are into jerseys “just because” and will buy much of what MLB produces, even if they’re not fans of the team. And that’s fine — if someone has $400 burning a hole in his/her pocket, it’s not for me to dictate how they spend their money.
So I’m not surprised the CC is popular in Wisconsin. That probably extends to the other 27 MLB cities whose teams have CCs.
The program’s not going away any time soon.
I’m with Phil on this, although I would add the Rockies, but ONLY with WHITE PANTS!!!
The white pants look better, but I do like the white pants for day games, green for night designations.
I don’t like too many CC sets, but the Royals have a nice look, and the Marlins seems fitting.
Also, re GTGFTU – both teams as they should look always (with their corresponding home or away set of course).
I agree with the Royals having a nice look. The navy and the fountain font is cool, I would like that one to stick around personally.
GTGFTU from Jim Vilk -of course it is, it’s a field goal attempt!
Oh, both those unis! Looking soooooooo sweet!!!
THAT’S how you do “icy white.” (Jets)
Thank you for recognizing the Angels CC as miles better than their standard unis, I wish they would just redesign their entire brand and create a set of jerseys based off those ones. If they did that a few years ago I would go so far as to say the good karma from that decision wouldve somehow allowed them to keep Shohei.
Honestly I always thought the CCs + NBAs yearly alternates were a great opportunity to soft-launch a more creative jersey design. If it works and fans really like it, it could stick around and if not they can just roll the dice again. I kinda wish CCs rotated yearly though like the NBA because some teams are just stuck with garbage (my twins )
I LOVE Arizona’s Serpientes uniforms. Wish they would go with this identity full time. They wore a black helmet with the snake “S” this past season. Can’t figure out why they didn’t change the hat as well.
Had I included a sixth team on my list, Arizona would have been another team who should keep their CC.
Nike does what Nike does well: get people talking about Nike. The CC program at least gives them a 3 year life cycle. That length of time is better than the NBA City Editions. It has been going yearly since 2017 and most teams get a new Edition each year. Creativity takes a hit when your running out of good ideas. MLB still has throwback games so the 4+1 can get a few classic looks each year.
The Nats Cherry blossoms uniforms are popular and fans would be happy to see them stick around.
Agreed. However, the Nats have already announced they’ll be getting a new CC for 2025, and retiring the Cherry Blossoms (link). I would have included it otherwise.
I despise the CC program. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to baseball and I think the CC program pushes baseball to far in the direction of the NBA when it comes to uniforms. I want to be able to flip on a game and know who I’m watching. It’s doesn’t help that my team (Giants) had some godawful CCs. I did like that orange Creamsicle cap though. I own one without the bridge design.
if you, someone who despises the program, even bought some related merch, then i think nike did this successfully to their liking
Youre not wrong.
I like the City Connect program. Some of them are better than others, and some of them are WAY better than others.
I do think many of the ones with colorful pants would look better with white pants, especially the Orioles, Rangers, and Mariners.
I love what the Mets did with the bridge on the cap and think that set is solid. The Marlins look fantastic. Was disappointed to see the Nationals and Rockies retiring their sets because I really liked them, especially when the Rockies wore the white pants instead of the green.
Given the Cubs’ avoidance of “City Connect” in their announcement last week, I think there’s an outside chance that Nike has retired the term (though obviously not the program). With the Nike unis being such a disaster last year, and so much of the conversation being around Nike forcing the changes on MLB, it wouldn’t shock me if the swoosh is trying to be SLIGHTLY less a part of the conversation around uni changes this year.
Whether these are CC or just alternates that get replaced every 3 years is a semantic hair, I agree. And why are we using storytelling as the determinant of whether something is CC? Storytelling is Nike’s thing, and so any new uniform is going to be full of storytelling. Look at the Broncos’ redesign, or almost any D-1 college football alternate. Nike can’t storytell the Yankees uniforms because they’re more or less unchanged for decades. They are the story. But any new team will have an overload of storytelling. Selling the brand.
One correction: unless there has been a change announced, the White Sox are a 4+1 team. Home white, road gray, black alt, and beach blanket throwback, which has been their standard Sunday alt for a few years now.
I agree their CC is a keeper, and I really like the Cleveland uniform, but I could live without the rest. The Marlins standard unis are so dull, I wish they would use the CC as the basis for a redesign. Those vibrant colors are fun to see.
I believe the Sox finally retired their ’83 throwbacks prior to last season. I’m a Sox fan who barely watched any games last season (can you blame me?) but I recall one of the writers for FutureSox quietly announcing this early last year.
Uniform Lineup seems to confirm this: link
Unless the White Sox have ditched the 1983 throwback, they have 4 “regular” jerseys: home white pinstripe, road grey, black Sox, and 1983 throwback. They would have to get rid of one of those if they got a new CC and kept the Southside jerseys.
Personally, I would like to see them not wear the 1983 throwback for a few years and bring them back in 2033. They might host the All Star Game in 2033 to honor the 100th anniversary of the first ASG. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
I don’t know if the ChiSox have permanently mothballed the beach blanket bingo unis, but they weren’t worn at all last season. Perhaps it’s a “soft” retirement.
My only bugbear with the White Sox’ Southside kit is the not-quite-black trousers. Wear that jersey with the white trousers and it’s their best uniform. Then throw away the 1983 throwback like a parking ticket and pretend it never happened.
On the other hand, I love the Marlins’ CCs. Bright, bold colors that sing, compared to their dingy regular kit. I agree with Dballer: Use these as the basis for a complete redesign.
Those marlins uniforms are painful. Red is not a good color for them. I get the legibility issues with their current set, but they can fix those while still keeping the traditional black hats and jerseys. Now if they made a teal one on the other hand we could talk.
The Detroit Tigers simply need to ditch the CC jerseys they introduced last year. Totally awful. Having been born, raised and grown up in Detroit, there was nothing about that jersey that connected me or related to the city whatsoever. Quite honestly, I am not a fan of any of the MLB CC jerseys for any of the teams. Just a total merchandise dump as far as I am concerned. I know….I sound like that “Get Off My Lawn” guy. LOL.
“Get off my lawn guy”…. you must be streaming 97.1 on the Audacy app. I hear that phrase at least 3x a day.
I may be biased as an Orioles fan, but I like their CC’s. I’d like them to incorporate the colorful neighborhoods pattern a bit more, although a little goes a long way. It also bothers me a little that the hat’s font doesn’t match the uni’s BALTIMORE font. And all that being said, the uni is a big redundant seeing as they already had a black alternate. I just hope Nike doesn’t fuck up their next CC…
I respectfully ask that someone please burn the proposed WNBA uniforms and give them a proper burial. Fugly.
The Astros’ Space City CCs were incredibly popular here in Houston, and their “final sale” was covered on the local news (I knew quite a few folks who went out and bought jerseys and hats when they found out it was being retired). So bringing it back, even in a toned down form (maybe white pants instead of navy) would be popular for the fans here.
Agree, Chris…also thought the space theme captured the exact “City” connection that the CC program seemed designed to emphasize.
The Jets going with their Champion football jerseys with the screened on numbers, after ditching Sand Knit durenes starting in 1972. The Rams going with their new Sand Knit jerseys that they started wearing the season before, and they Rams still had the sew on numbers with the block style 2. They soon would move on to heat pressed numbers and change the font to the style people call the Eric Dickerson era.
I would only move a CC to the core 4 if they are in team colors. But that’s just me.
I would be for keeping the CC uniforms in the regular rotation, but only if they change any colors to exactly match regular team uniforms. My main reasoning is that the Red Sox will now have 3 uniforms in team colors and 2 in offshoot colors. I don’t think this is a very good look as far as branding goes, we can just look at the NBA to see how that turns out.
I’d say make a new version of the Sox Black jersey borrowing a lot of aspects of the CC but likely having the basic Sox logo on them instead of the southside script.
Fully biased. From the South Side and a lifelong Sox fan. Keep the uni exactly as it is. If you want to play around with the other uniforms, go back to what they were when they were introduced in the early 90’s or swap colors to go with an early 70’s look.
My main issue with the CC program is that while it’s good marketing*, it’s bad branding. Teams with iconic uniforms should be leaning into their iconography, not away from it. The Yankees seem to be the only team that realizes this.
Coca-Cola doesn’t come out with a different color can with a completely new logo every three years. That might increase sales briefly, but it would hurt the brand long-term, as the product gradually becomes less instantly identifiable. I think it’s telling that three of the teams chosen above don’t really have iconic uniforms to begin with, because of recent re-branding (Guardians) or a team history of frequent redesigns (Marlins, Angels). The fourth (White Sox) is really just a reverse-negative twist on their existing uniform.
*a way to quickly increase jersey sales
I actually like the Phillies’ CC uniform. If they had a decent font, I’d probably love them.
The cap, in particular is awesome. I wear that one most days…
I don’t want to see Nike continue leading MLB down this path or it’s going to end up like the NBA. A constant stream of uniform changes with styles and colors that don’t look like the team,. Eventually you end up turning on the TV, see a game, and need to rely on the scorebug to try and figure out which two teams are playing.
The price tag on these jerseys is astronomical. (Which is why I only went in for a CLE (I know I know) stocking cap. I went to my first MN Wild game ever this month and was shocked by the number of sweaters being work throughout the arena. Yikes! Those really aren’t cheap!
I’m a Cub fan who liked the all-navy-blue City Connect uniforms. But I’d remove the names, change the number to their normal font, and maybe put a pale blue border around it.
Angels, Padres. D-Backs.
New Cubbies and old Boston are fine as well.
Don’t want to see any City Connect uniforms stay. They are hideous. Some more hideous than others but they all fall in that category.
The answer for me is get rid of the stupid 4+1 rule. The clothing manufacturer should not be dictating anything to the organization they work for, regardless of how much they paid for the gig. It’s been evident since the start that Nike is not up for this.
Let the teams have as many freaking shirts as they want.
That said, a huge chunk of the CC designs are poor or meh at best, for me anyway. I loved my Nationals theme tho, and am very sad to see it go.
I’m excited for the mariners to ditch their CC’s. I’m a fan of good alternates, but man, black, royal and yellow is a brutal combination of colors.