
After a leak that Phil covered earlier this week, the Mets formally unveiled their new road alternate uniforms earlier today at Amazin’ Day. And Phil called it — these are not replacing the Mets’ primary road uniforms, contrary to some social media rumors after the leak.
Probably the first thing you notice (or at least the first thing I noticed) was that the new jerseys are pullover, which makes them fairly unique for modern MLB. Although the Mets are no strangers to pullovers in their history, the team hasn’t had a pullover jersey in regular rotation since 1990 (though they have worn 1986 throwbacks on a number of occasions). The Mets are joining the Nationals in having a pullover alternate jersey; the Nats’ version debuted last year and has a similar if not identical template. The Angels also have a “1970s throwback” featuring the same collar, but since they don’t match what the Angels actually wore in the 1970s, I suppose we can consider those to be fauxbacks.
I hated the collar on the Nats’ alternate pullovers, I hated it on the Angels’ fauxbacks, and I still hate it here. Paul said it best when covering the Nats last year:
I don’t like the collar. It’s not completely awful, but it seems like a classic example of Nike being different for the sake of being different. Just use a standard fucking V-neck collar already.
The new wordmark is actually an old wordmark — the team wore it for only one season, in 1987. A modified version was worn in the 1993 and 1994 seasons, but was gone after the players’ strike ended in 1995, replaced with the first version of the Mets’ current primary road uniforms.


Another thing to note here is that there is little contrast between the elements (and NOB and number) and the base color of the jersey. I actually like the effect in these up close photos, but time will tell if there will be legibility issues when watching on television (or computers or phones) or attending a game in person.

One encouraging thing to note: the jerseys (or at least the ones displayed at Amazin’ Day) have the standard NOB size.
In order to comply with MLB’s 4+1 rule, the Mets are likely dropping their royal blue softball tops, which were only worn five times in the 2024 season, according to Twitter user @daily_mets_. The Mets are yet to officially confirm which jersey they’re dropping.

Overall, I really dig these — I adore the wordmark, and I think the minimal-contrast elements can work. The collar still annoys the shit out of me (and would probably preclude me from buying one if I were a Mets fan), but I think these are solidly in B-to-B-plus territory, and are more fun and unique than the team’s BFBS and royal blue alternates. What say you?
Between the blue on blue and collar, this is atrocious.
This jersey sux Big TIME
Hoping we don’t see them with blue pants.
The Giants did a black-on-black treatment a few years ago, with orange outlining their SF logo and player numerals. It looked cool, but it wasn’t easy to read. And I think that was before they started putting player names on all the jerseys.
The A’s did BFBS twice in the 2000s. The first time, they had black jerseys with green team name, numerals, and player names outlined in white. It didn’t work, so the next time around, the names and numbers were white trimmed in green and gold. Better, but still BFBS.
Pretty sure these jerseys will have the same problem. Orange trimmed in white would really pop, as you can see from the photo of the Mets’ (soon-to-be-previous?) blue jerseys.
Its ironically a better city connect than their current city connect.
That said I hate baseball pullovers. Also if you’re going to do this, no racing stripes?
I love the script but the contrast is a problem. I think this is going to be like the Rays CCs.
Again Nike got 70% of the way there and blew the last bit.
This is a miss for me. I do like them using the 1987 NEW YORK wordmark. That’s a plus. What they should have done is taken their 1980s blue alternate and used that NEW YORK wordmark from the 1987 jerseys and applied it here. Orange/white/orange around the neck and around the sleeve holes. Orange NEW YORK and numbers with white outline. I hate the blue numbers outlined in orange on a blue jersey.
link
Exactly how Mookie Wilson modeled it here, but with the 1987 NEW YORK script on the chest and thinner orange/white/orange on the neck and sleeve holes.
Thanks, but I didn’t want them to adopt that road jersey with the gray/silver. I wanted to keep it strictly blue/orange/white. So that’s why I was modeling it off the Mookie pic.
This is exactly what I wish this jersey was modeled after. Gray numbers/letters with the New York script would be much better.
Teams need to seriously stop with this whole “stealth” nonsense. Rarely does it look good
It NEVER looks good.
time will tell if there will be legibility issues when watching on television (or computers or phones) or attending a game in person
No time is needed. It WILL be unreadable from any distance. It’s terrible. It’s a massive fail. It makes me want to un-retire just so I can retire all over again.
LOL
The collar style does not bother me as much as others. What DOES bug me is that the orange trim on the sleeves and collars was done for 100 years as a single braid or soutache sewn on top of the jersey. It is now attached to the end of the sleeve as a thicker knit trim to pretend it is soutache. Must be cheaper to make it this way. It is abhorent to me.
The Mets have gone back to their original front number sizing used from 1965-2023. Last year, Nike forced all teams to conform to a certain front number height and to me the Mets looked like they were wearing knockoffs all year. This of course bodes well for every other MLB team that had to tweak front numbers last year.
The sleeve cuffs really bother me too. I was hopeful that Nike would fix this and go back to the old way but I guess not.
The numbers and lettering have little contrast and will be hard to see on TV or from a distance.
Also not a big fan of pullovers.
With a few tweaks, this could have been a nice jersey.
I agree. Nike doesn’t want to bother appling soutache piping. Instead, just manufacturer knitted sleeve ends because it’s summer and everyone really just wants to wear “golf shirts.” The pullovers are a step toward simply outfitting MLB in super expensive screened t-shirts. It works for little leaguers…
RE: golf shirts
Wearing a golf shirt is telling the world “I do not care about my appearance in any way whatsoever.”
Wearing a golf shirt with sweat pants is telling the world “I have completely given up on life.”
I’d have to ask a seamster (any in the house?) but I’m guessing a soutache might not be possible with the polyester paper-towel material Nike is making these jerseys out of.
Firstly, thank fucking god these are only an alternate road. That being said I bet within a couple of years they tweak these to an orange wordmark/number and wear these more than the grey.
I just cannot stand mere outlines!
fixed link: link
Meh. They could do worse. I’m fine with reviving the loopy 1987 script but not a fan of the “stealth” lettering. The worst thing about this is that it will supplant the single best uniform in baseball (the Mets’ road grays) for a good number of games.
Wish these had grey or orange word mark and numbers. They remind me of the altrrnate Heat jerseys from the LeBron era.
“Another thing to note here is that there is little *contract* between the elements”
Contrast, not contract.
And it will be illegible in the stands.
Fixed. Thanks!
I just wish I could fix these illegible jerseys as well…
Took what could have been a cool concept and absolutely bottled it.
That said, while I hate pullovers on the field, I do kind of hope the Red Sox new CC will be a pullover as I find them more comfortable to wear.
These are awesome 10/10 for me as I’m so glad the Mets have a blue road jersey again. Love the New York word mark and glad to see the pullovers making a comeback.
Would love to see the Cubs bring their 80s blue pullover back in the future at some point as well.
When pullovers were the norm back decades ago, except for maybe the Dodgers and Yankees, I strongly hated them. And they were worse with the sansabelt pants. Now I think I like them. Makes more sense with the team name or city/location across the chest. Just keep using the current pants with belts. And get the damn collar fixed.
The blue on blue kills it. Incorporate a little white and maybe you have something. This is like those nba christmas jerseys from many years go
Mets alternate will be known as “blue shirt” because you won’t be able to read the names or numbers or wordmark in the front unless your sitting behind the plate near the mets on deck circle. Just horrible
Would be 100x better if the jersey color was grey. And if the grey road pants had a b/o/b stripe to match.
The collar just mimics a button-down jersey. As such I’m surprised more pullover-haters here don’t like it.
Yeah, so much hate for pullovers. I don’t get it. Maybe because I grew up with them being the norm and others didn’t.
I LOVE pullovers.
But the stealth lettering and numbering absolutely ruins it.
This.
Maybe it’s just my eyes, but I honestly can’t tell if the wordmark and the numbers are sewn on patches with orange stitching, or simply orange stitching to form the wordmark. When I attempt to zoom in on the (only photos that seem to be available) I almost swear it looks like stitching only. The next evolution in the Swoosh’s uniform design for lightness, blah, blah, blah?
I unapologetically love these. Modern twist on an old style. I LOVE pullovers, they’ve been missed.
Agreed on all of that. Just make it legible, and it would be a clear improvement over the previous blue alts.
Not a good look! The number outlines will be difficult to see. The collar looks like a one button polo shirt with no button. A pullover should be V-neck or have 2-3 buttons. This looks something a high school student would design as part of a class project.
This is the next prime example of Nike screwing things up to be Nike with this collar. Why? I don’t even mind a V-neck pullover but this is bad. And didn’t we outlaw ghosted numbers and put a nail in that coffin? We’re doing ghosted numbers again? Why?! Not only isn’t it a good look, the names and numbers are illegible from a distance.
we’ve seen more than enough evidence that the larger NOB letters are back, great news. it’s official, not speculative so we don’t need to guess at this point
agreed on this one that the contrast will be an issue and the colllar sucks. though the style of the new york on the front is an awesome throwback
I’ve always been a fan of that 1987 jersey even if I have no interest in the team. I absolutely love that swoopy Y! The 1993-94 versions sucked though, what with that underline going through the loop of the Y. How dare they desecrate that letter! This retake on it though…just needs to not have a ghosted script and it would be perfect. If it were a button-front jersey they would no doubt screw it up with the placket. I’m wondering if the lettering would look better as white outlined in orange or vice-versa. Hoping someone could mock that up for us.
After reading comments most readers don’t like this jersey or would like it with some modifications. I don’t know why the manufacturer doesn’t listen to fan feedback, At least they’re fixing the 2024 uniform mess as well as the all star unis. I don’t like the V neck or the stealth look. The Mets gray road uniform could be modernized a bit with a gray alternate with the 1987 script orange and white outlines like 1993-1994 but without the underline. That would look way better than any alternates they offer now. By the way the black jersey and caps need to go. I don’t think this jersey will last more than 2-3 years.
When I first saw the photo of the jersey today, my first thought was “It isn’t that bad!”. I wonder if this is a trial for them to replace the gray jersey in the future, the scripted New York just feels right. Relieved they went back to the older version of numbers/NOB, it was severely undersized last year. (@ staff, hoping you guys finally join BlueSky and create an account there for your fans!)
Also, when they brought back the black jersey, didn’t they use a loophole that allowed them to wear a special jersey like five times a year? The blue Mets jersey is their spring training jersey, I would think they would keep them for that purpose and then use it sporadically during the season.
I think they’re going to have to designate a new ST/BP jersey if they ditch the blue. I think St. Looey (doing this from memory) had a similar situation last spring. They had been wearing a red top for ST/BP, but since they were going white, cream, gray and light blue, they couldn’t have a different top for ST. Then they added a red jersey later in the season when they got their “The Lou” City Connect.
So, I’m pretty sure the Mets will have to pick a new ST jersey from their new core four: pins, gray, black and royal.
Mobile format is broken :(
Fixed… for now. Thanks!
If there were an additional white outer outline on the New York and the numbers (and the NOB was just done as a single color, white), I would dislike the blue-on-blue less. But as-is, it’s a no-go.
I did not recall the Nationals’ and Angels’ wishbone collars, but while I don’t like them, those don’t quite bug me as much as the one on this one. Possibly because those have more contrast on the white jerseys whereas this is more blue-on-blue with just a little orange.
Ugly collar aside, I think the orange script has a Times Square neon lights effect. Unfortunately, the only way that script can pop like that is to have the pullover jerseys. Now, I grew up admiring the Royals’ and Astros’ pullovers, so I don’t understand why this family of collars is so funky.
I always liked the wordmark, but that’s about all I like in this iteration.
All pullovers look like beer-league softball jerseys. Button-front jerseys are baseball jerseys. Didn’t like the pullovers in the 70s, don’t like them now.
The lack of contrast, as mentioned, will be really problematic. This jersey is screaming out for some white outlines/elements.
And agreed on the collar…more unnecessary than offensive, but it really doesn’t work with only one color.
Overall, thumbs down.
Grew up with pullovers in the 1970s. No problem with them. And I’m sure they’re much more comfortable versus button-down tops. Like the nod to 1986, but HATE HATE HATE the collar. Leave it to Nike to do something right-ish, then mess it up with a needless design “fix.”
I’ve his it here before and I’ll say it again: if they aren’t going to Respect The Placket, they might as well adopt pullovers league wide. I’d rather see this pullover than a button placket that runs through the Y in “New York”, which is what would happen if you slapped this word mark on last year’s template.
The numbers will be hard to read once they get on the field. The numbers need outlining. But hey, at least the nike logo stands out ok.
RED ALERT:
The Nats have brought back a red alternate jersey (slightly different from the one they previously wore), and per SportsLogos dot Net, are ditching their white pullover (which they only wore 11 times).
Adidas called. They want their sleeved NBA unis back.
Does anyone know what caps will be paired with this uniform? The blue doesn’t seem to match the current caps.
Not a pullover lover and in this case the lettering and number should be orange with a white outline. Pullovers are for fans who are too lazy to button down, not for players who should button down.
I am not Mets fan at all. But was always a fan of their current uniforms which go back to the style of the 1960’s. Why go to an alternate?. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This is terrible. I mean the blue on blue numbers with orange trim will be clearly be visible all over the ballpark and in the upper deck and on television right?. LOL. Jeeez…..give me a break. Holy smoke.
The more I see the new road alternates, the less I like. Pullover and odd V-neck ugly. Baseball is button down. Need some white in the lettering too. The new top overwhelms the senses. I really like the home alternates. Sorry to see those go. I would have been thrilled to ditch the black. Never liked them, drab and dreary.
I really like the road button down gray in the photo with the orange and blue script lettering. Gooden’s uni. Simple, classic – but modern font – clean, easy on the eyes and everything blends well.