Welcome to the 2025 Uni Watch MLB Season Preview. Let’s PLAY BALL!
For literally decades, the annual MLB uniform preview produced by our Founder (and Editor Emeritus) Paul Lukas was always my favorite column of the year and the one I most looked forward to as baseball is not only my favorite sport, but Opening Day always meant that Spring had finally arrived, everyone was undefeated, and infinite possibilities lay ahead for our favorite team. The first ever Uni Watch MLB Preview piece actually occurred way back 1999 — which itself was the first Uni Watch column ever published. The 2025 MLB Season Preview hopes to uphold the standard set by Mr. Lukas more than 25 years ago.
If you followed baseball at all in 2024, you are aware of a multitude of issues regarding Nike’s new “Vapor Premier” jersey design and the issues with aesthetics that became readily apparent from the first pitch of Spring Training. Most of those issues remained unresolved throughout the 2024 season, but over the off-season, MLB, Nike and Fanatics have sought to address many of the problems caused by the switchover to the new uniform template. Many of those issues were covered in Paul’s 2024 MLB uniform preview, if you want to chart last year’s changes.
During the course of the 2024 season, MLB, Nike and Fanatics partnered with the Major League Baseball Players’ Association to conduct a leaguewide survey to determine how best to address criticisms about the more lightweight look, smaller standardized NOB heights, lack of customization options for pants, differences in color shades between jersey and pants, non-embroidered patches, and much more. Let’s begin with the promised upgrades/improvements for 2025.
As part of our commitment to listen to the voice of the athlete, we conducted a leaguewide survey to team representatives in partnership with MLB and MLBPA. Based on the survey results, we made changes to uniform details and material that they requested. Changes implemented for this season:
- Uniforms will return to larger lettering for names and numbers on the back.
- Customized fit and tailoring experience for pants
- Team specific custom fonts
- Embroidered sleeve patches
- To address the discoloration of some gray uniforms due to perspiration, the road grays of all 30 Clubs this season will go back to the material used in 2023.
By the 2026 season all uniforms will return to the material used in the 2023 uniforms. The road grey uniforms are the first to receive these changes and were prioritized for this season.
Let’s address those bullet points individually.
Return to larger lettering for names and NOB
Here is a comparison of the 2023 jersey back vs. 2024:
And here is a comparison between 2024 and 2025. As you can see, larger NOB and (in some cases) larger jersey number will be the norm for all MLB teams going forward:
Customized fit/tailoring for pants
Before last year, players would have several measurements taken for their pants, which then were tailored. Nike simplified the fitting process in 2024, and tailoring/customization options were limited. More tailoring options have returned for 2025.
Team specific custom fonts
Last season, Nike/MLB attempted more standardization across all jerseys, which meant some wordmarks/logos/scripts were rendered in different sizes than pre-2024. This was especially true for teams who have uniform numbers on the front of the jersey. Last season, all front uniform numbers were set to a standard size.
Here is a comparison between 2023 and 2024:
And here is a comparison between 2024 and this year. Larger front number and custom fonts have returned.
Embroidered sleeve patches
2023 vs 2024:
It’s difficult to tell from the photos below, but the patch is now back to being embroidered. Here is the 2024 vs. 2025 comparison.
New Road Grays
All uniform colors were affected by the switchover to the new template, but the problems, particularly with mismatched shades of gray and perspiration stains were particularly egregious. Nike/MLB note the road gray uniforms made from the 2023 fabric were ready by Spring Training, and starting in 2026, all uniforms will return to using the previous materials from the 2023 season. Most teams wear colored jerseys during spring, so it’s difficult to judge the changes, but both the Cardinals and Phillies wear their full road grays during spring training. Here’s a look at those.
So it appears MLB/Nike were able to address the low-hanging fruit for most of their major issues from 2024. It will take until 2026 for the full set of adjustments to fully phase-in.
Before we get to the individual team uniform previews, there are some terms which will be used throughout that describe each team’s uniform set.
“Core Four”
This refers to the “maximum” number of non-City Connect jerseys a team may have in a given season. The core includes the primary home and road uniforms, plus two additional alternate jerseys, which may be paired with either home or road pants, or which have specific pants designed for a specific jersey. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals wear home white and road gray uniforms with “Cardinals” in script across the chest. They also have alternate cream and powder blue uniforms which both read “St. Louis” in script. Those are considered alternate jerseys. Other teams wear dark alternate jerseys they will pair with either their home or road pants, and are also considered alternates in terms of the “Core Four.” The New York Mets, for example, wear white home uniforms with blue pinstripes, as well as road gray uniforms. They also have a new royal blue jersey and black jersey. So the Mets “Core Four” are the pinstripe home jersey, gray road jersey, alternate black jersey (which is worn at home and paired with a separate set of plain white pants with blue piping), and the blue alternate (which will be paired with the team’s road pants).
Not every team has four different jerseys (the Yankees, for example, wear only their white pinstripes at home and gray on the road). Most teams have filled their “Core Four” slots, but it’s not a requirement they do. The only restriction, which has very limited exceptions, is the number of non City Connect jerserys a team is permitted to wear.
“4 + 1”
This refers to the total number of uniforms a team can have in a given season. It is the Core Four plus one City Connect uniform.
City Connect Uniform (“CC” for short)
Back in 2021, MLB introduced the City Connect uniform program. As envisioned, all MLB teams would receive a new uniform designed to create different color schemes, typefaces, and graphic elements compared with the teams’ typical home and away uniforms. In theory, the CC uniforms are designed to reflect the cultural aspects of each team’s home city. The roll out of the City Connect program did not go quite as planned (all 30 teams were supposed to receive a CC uniform within three years of the program’s debut). Though the program took four years to fully phase in, 28 of 30 teams had received a CC through 2024. The Yankees (who refused) and Athletics (in the process of moving from Oakland to Las Vegas, via Sacramento) were the only two teams who have yet to have a CC uniform. The Dodgers were the only team to receive a second CC (2.0) in 2024.
This year, eight teams will have new (2.0) CCs. Both the Astros and Nationals have already unveiled their 2025 uniforms (those are covered in the individual team sections), and it appears the San Francisco Giants new City Connect may have been leaked. And it’s also possible the Diamondbacks new CC will feature a purple gradient jersey.
The Astros and Nationals will debut their new City Connect uniforms this week.
New Uniforms for 2025
In terms of new uniforms for 2025, there will be several, although no team has done a major overhaul. The Cleveland Guardians tweaked all of their core four jerseys for 2025, several teams will be introducing new alternate jerseys, and a couple teams have added a new set of pants to create different uniform combinations going forward. And of course, eight teams will have new CC uniforms, two of which have already been unveiled.
“Limited Use” jerseys will again be kept to a minimum for 2025. (Limited use is MLB’s term for one-off designs that are worn for just a game or two, like a Negro League throwback or a Spanish-language jersey). Limited-use caps are still OK (as they were in 2024). A very few number of teams will be granted limited use jersey exemptions allowing them to subvert the “Core Four” restriction.
All-Star Game Uniforms
In what may qualify as the best MLB uniform news of 2025, MLB has announced it will have players return to wearing their primary home and road uniforms at the All-Star Game! Players will once again represent their “hometown” teams for the game itself, as was the case from the 1930s through 2019. From 2021 through 2024 (there was no All-Star game in 2020 due to the pandemic), MLB created special uniforms which have been worn in-game (2021, 2022 American League and National League, 2023, and 2024 National League and American League).
Players selected for the 2025 All-Star Game will wear a special All-Star uniform during Workout Day and the Home Run Derby the day before the All-Star Game, though players actually competing in the Derby will wear their primary home uniforms. MLB is working with New Era on the game cap for the All-Star Game.
While not uniform-related there are a few other big changes for MLB in 2025.
• Both the Tampa Bay Rays and the former Oakland Athletics (who will be known simply as “Athletics” until they move to Las Vegas in 2028) will play in Minor League ballparks this season. The Rays will be playing at Steinbrenner Field (due to their former home, Tropicana Field, being left unuseable after Hurricane Milton caused extensive damage in 2024). For this and the following two seasons (2025-2027) the Athletics will be located in Sacramento, and will play their games at a minor league facility they will share with the Sacramento River Cats. This is obviously a less-than-ideal situation for MLB.
• When the Detroit Tigers opened their new ballpark, one of its signature features was a dirt strip which connected home plate to the pitcher’s mound (a “throwback” feature). The Tigers have now removed the dirt path and filled it in with sod.
• Several ballparks have undergone upgrades. The Baltimore Orioles, who have changed the dimensions of their left field wall several times over the years, have done so again for 2025. This was done so as to attempt to make the distance from home plate fair to both pitchers and hitters
And now, for the team-by-team uniform preview, by Division. Each Division in the two leagues has five teams. To see the uniforms for all teams in each division, you can click on the links provided below.
National League East
The National League East consists of the Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals. All but one team will have uniform changes for 2025.
To view the National League East uniform previews, Click here.
National League Central
The National League Central consists of the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals. Most teams in this division will have uniform changes for the 2025 season.
To view the National League Central uniform previews, Click here.
National League West
The National League West consists of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres. Most teams in this division will have uniform changes for the 2025 season.
To view the National League West uniform previews, Click here.
American League East
The American League East consists of the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays. Several teams in this division will have uniform changes for the 2025 season.
To view the American League East uniform previews, Click here.
American League Central
The American League Central consists of the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins. Several teams in this division will have uniform changes for the 2025 season.
To view the American League Central uniform previews, Click here.
American League West
The American League West consists of the Athletics (as they will be known for their stay in Sacramento), Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners, and Texas Rangers. Two teams in this division will have major uniform news for the 2025 season.
To view the American League West uniform previews, Click here.
Aaaaaand that’s a wrap. Did I miss anything? Yeah, probably. If so, please let me know in the comments.
Okay, that’ll do it. Now let’s play ball!
[My sincere thanks and appreciation go out to Susan Freeman, who assisted with research for this article and also created the MLB Preview graphic seen at the top of the page and new uni montage as well!]
I’m in favor of The San Francisco Chronicle’s policy of calling them the Sacramento Athletics, since that’s (almost) where they play. No need to bow to Fisher’s preferences.
GAWD, I can’t wait till he’s gone so I can be an A’s fan again. Everything else aside, they still have the best uniforms in baseball.
How do they refer to the 49’s?
Northern Californian here – Yeah, they are still referred to as the San Francisco 49ers by everyone – Geography, County and City location/semantics be damned, apparently.
I favor this too. The city name is far more important than the nickname; back when baseball first got started, the city name was the only thing with official status. You’re playing in Sacramento, you call your team Sacramento.
Fischer screwed the fans so I would do the exact opposite of whatever he wants.
Thanks Phil. You did a great job!
So if by some crazy cosmic fluke the A’s and Rays make the playoffs, would Manfred’s greed kick in and force them to play in a bigger unused stadium for the postseason? They’re only playing in short term rentals but they might develop some sort of home field advantage by season’s end. I would love to see both teams make the ALCS.
MLB’s already announced the A’s wouldn’t be allowed to host postseason games in Sacramento, which shows just how big of a shitshow the whole situation is.
Sell the team, John.
MLB also announced the A’s aren’t allowed to host an All-Star Game in Sacramento, either.
Which is a total f’n joke, since Oakland hasn’t hosted an All-Star Game since 1987.
Sell the team, John.
But you can still bet on the team no matter where they play, and that is most important of all!
This is wonderful—congratulations Phil!!
Saw some White Sox highlights; the larger player names and numbers — even on the jersey fronts — made a noticeable difference. They look much better than last year.
R.I.P. the dirt strip. We need a ballpark to bring back the dirt strip!
Agreed!!!!!
-C.
Camden Yards would be able to aesthetically accommodate this.
Excellent preview Phil! Play ball!
…though MLB’s app crashing for a good chunk of the first hour of opening day was a major drag.
Great preview Phil. Surprised and disappointed that Cleveland didn’t have a patch honoring Rocky Colavito, one of the most beloved players in franchise history.
I wouldn’t mind the All-Star game having a league-specific uni as they did last year, just make them better. I think a lot of us here have fond memories of the NHL All-Star uniforms of yore, especially the black and orange ones. There is no longer a reason to see other teams’ uniforms in the Midsummer Classic what with the advent of cable tv/streaming/internet/etc.
I’ve been watching baseball for decades and decades. I will always enjoy seeing my favorite team’s uniforms take the field for the All Star Game as one of the best in the game. Whether it’s the 1st, 5th, or 8th inning, it’s still a high point in the game.
Great job on the preview Phil! In the Tigers’ game today, their names still looked smaller than they used to be pre-2024. (At least to me.) Is NOB size still standardized across the majors, but just larger this time?
It may seem smaller, but it’s definitely larger than last season.
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They do look smaller than the 2023 NOBs, but I wonder if that’s because the names have three layers (unlike most teams) and perhaps the outermost layer is what gets fitted to the standard size, making the navy blue innermost layer appear slightly smaller.
Glad to see that with the return of the 2023 fabric comes the return of actual sleeve piping instead of the sublimated elastic ones on the previous template. It’s interesting that the road jersey that the Guardians unveiled last year will *technically* never be worn.
I’m also happy about the return to actual sleeve piping. Even if it’s only for the road grays for now. One thing I noticed about the Giants uniforms today is the sleeve stripes remain at the end of the sleeve. Before 2024, the road stripes were a little further up on the sleeve. I noticed the same today about the Braves road uniforms.
I am very happy to see that the Cubs got their “real” number font back and not the overly-standardized version that Nike seemly copied out of a style guide. You can see the 3 and 5 are back to being a little more rounded than 6, 8, 9, and 0. I don’t mind the smaller NOBs, particularly with Pete Crow-Armstrong on our team (actually I’d like to see them disappear entirely), but I never liked that 2024 number font.
Great preview, Phil! Embroidered patches on sleeves are back, but the WS patch on the Dodgers jersey is still a print. And looks cheap.
Great preview, I’m excited to have baseball back!
Well done team! It’s so good to have baseball back!
Thank you. The MLB Preview post was my favorite every year, but I did not choose to subscribe to Substack, so I have missed them for a few years.
The change back for the All-Star games is wrong. The real issue was the disaster of the uniforms themselves. It’s boring to see the same unis for 162 and then again for the ASG. Correct the designs and move on.
PROOFREADING: The name of Steinbrenner Field is misspelled.
Thanks. Got it.
I hope to see the Mets new blue pullover jerseys tonight against Houston, as those are already my favorite new jerseys in the league. I actually like the changes to the gray ones too.
Wish I could say the same about the Mets’ grey roadies. Piping ok, but the wordmark is STILL too small. Front numeral placement looks off as a result. Why can’t the Nike/Fanatics industrial complex fix this???
Great job, Phil. This is also the Uni Watch event that I look forward to the most every year.
The Cubs new light blue uni is a complete rip off of the expos including the lower case lettering. I hate that the Tigers removed the Tigers sign above the scoreboard and replace it with more corporate crap! Finally, go away city connect.
Looks like Scheels has leaked some newly designed city connect merchandise for the Rockies and Diamondbacks.
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