Professional softball has a new league — The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) — which was founded in 2024.
On June 4, 2024, Athletes Unlimited announced a new softball league with four teams and a 30-game season, which will complement the existing Pro Softball Championship, with ESPN will be a founding broadcast partner. MLB announced an investment in the AUSL.
Like several recent start-up leagues, the AUSL will be a touring league in 2025, playing in six to eight cities. Currently, there are no city affiliations for teams, but that is expected to happen for the ’26 season, should the league make it that far. However, with ESPN on board, and backing from MLB, I’d place the odds of the AUSL being a “one year wonder” as fairly low. Per MLB:
In a first-of-its-kind partnership with a women’s professional sports league, MLB announced Thursday a strategic investment in the AUSL to help the fledgling softball circuit become an established, sustainable entity. The investment, which is part of MLB’s ongoing commitment to supporting the growth of softball at all levels, will include joint sales and marketing efforts, extensive promotional support and broadcasts on MLB Network and MLB.com to raise the visibility of the AUSL and its athletes.
But the viability or success of the new league is, for Uni Watch’s intents and purposes, not a major concern (though I do hope it is ultimately successful), as we’re here for the uniforms. And indeed, all four teams have them.
A partnership that is first-of-its-kind.
AUSL x @MLB pic.twitter.com/erotnuoBnM
— AUSL (@theAUSLofficial) May 29, 2025
The AUSL is beginning with just four teams: the Bandits, Blaze, Talons and Volts. Let’s take a look at how they’ll be attired on the field.
As of this writing, the Bandits are the only team to show off two different uniforms. As you can see in the group photos, they’re pictured wearing a white pinstripe uniform. This leads me to believe the other three teams will also have second uniforms.
The all-white uni features light blue pinstripes, with “Bandits” in a light blue script with thick black outlines. Player number is also in light blue, with a thin black outline. Socks will be solid black.
The dark uniform features a light blue jersey, with the same “Bandits” script wordmark (in white with thick black outline), and player number in red. Pants are solid black, with white socks.
More looks here:
Media day complete. Ready for season y’all 🤠 pic.twitter.com/BhhWVjs6PX
— Bandits | Athletes Unlimited Softball League (@AUSL_Bandits) May 30, 2025
The Blaze will have a solid black uniform, including black socks. Jerseys are black, and feature a stylized “BLAZE” wordmark in white. Player number is pink with a gold outline.
The catcher’s gear is pretty stylized…
oh yeah, this is some heat @kswaggyyyy x @EvoShield pic.twitter.com/ts9Oq2U6Ji
— blaze | athletes unlimited softball league (@AUSL_Blaze) May 28, 2025
The Talons have a green jersey with a thick black collar. “TALONS” is splashed across the chest in a bespoke font. The “O” in Talons contains what looks like an eye from a predatory bird, with a talon.
The Talons will also have solid black pants, which they pair with black socks.
Claws are out. pic.twitter.com/O24qKs0dUR
— Talons | AUSL (@AUSL_Talons) May 30, 2025
The final team for the AUSL’s inaugural season is the Volts. Their jerseys are purple, with “VOLTS” in white and yellow, with a portion of the “V” being a lightning bolt. Numbers are rendered in what looks to be fuchsia, with a bright yellow outline.
Although the Volts are pictured in the group photo wearing white pants with purple socks, they will also have a black pants option.
They’ll pair the black pants with white socks.
Due to the large number of players who wear pony-tails, NOB is below player number on the rear of the jerseys.
MEDIA DAYYYY ✅ pic.twitter.com/W0A4C218ji
— VOLTS | AUSL (@AUSL_Volts) May 31, 2025
Each of the four squads will have custom batting helmets.
You’ll note that the uniforms are manufactured by Nike, and each jersey has a thick, almost henley-esque collar.
As far as the uniforms go, I think they’re fine — and as noted above, I’m expecting all teams to (eventually) have at least two sets of uniforms. I love the Bandits white pinstripe uniforms, and I would hope the other three teams introduce a white set at some point. I don’t love the (literal) softball tops, especially the collars, but player comfort is the most important thing.
One other interesting aspect of the uniforms: you’ll note each team has a set of black pants. While not specifically stated by the league, I believe this is part of a welcome trend and a step towards openly acknowledging and addressing the challenges faced by female athletes during menstruation. Female tennis players at Wimbledon are now permitted to wear dark undershorts beneath their white skirts, and the Orlando Pride of the National Women’s Soccer League changed their away-uniform shorts from white to black to address period concerns. Several other teams and organizations are also adopting similar changes.
As mentioned, the four teams will begin play this Saturday. You can see the schedule here.
Some additional photos below:
What do you think of the uniforms?
A couple of “throwback” items here ….
The Bandits name is taken from the Chicago Bandits of NPF, which won four titles during their time in the league.
Also, the Blaze name is taken from one of the two touring teams in Women’s Pro Fastpitch from the mid-1990s, which barnstormed in minor-league parks with the pitching rubber nailed to the ground in front of the pitcher’s mound.
This was in the first culling of minor-league owners/teams, and saw a number of old ballparks being repurposed for independent ball, not unlike what happened three years ago.
Athletes Unlimited already existed as a softball league (and in other sports), it’s just that it was a real-life version of fantasy sports where one player became the champion, teams changed every week, and everything was based on individual stats. This would be their first go at a proper league without any of that, but it sounds like they’re still doing the previous format after this one is over.
TL;DR I wouldn’t characterize it as a start-up and I’m a little annoyed MLB called it “fledgling.” It is very patronizing of them.
Given the six-pointed red star as part of the Bandits logo and the general color scheme, I would lay major money on them becoming a Chicago team if/when they are assigned a city.
I noticed that too. It’s a nice nod to the Chicago Bandits, a former professional softball team (with different colors and logo).
That’s a good guess. I could see the other cities being Miami (Blaze), Philadelphia (Talons) and Los Angeles (Volts).
The jersey template could be improved (that collar…), but overall, the uniforms look pretty good. I like that they pair dark pants with a different coloured jersey – the black pants look great with the dark green jersey.
Yeah I’ll reserve judgment. Incomplete grade because only one team has a light look. If that’s all, then the purple-over-black, the dark green-over-black, and the all-black will be hard to distinguish, and only the light blue team would look distinct. Even if every team has a lighter change top, I’d say that would look fine…the teams could have universal black pants for every game, for all I care.
It also looks like they all have a default plain white pant as well. Hopefully they get enough traction and some team designs that are more unique than just a color swatch.
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