Major League Baseball and Nike introduced City Connect jerseys in 2021, yet there are still ten teams who are yet to embrace them. The Blue Jays are one of those teams, but there are rising expectations that they will in the 2024 season. The jersey’s goal is to connect and focus on the city or team history. The Colorado City Connect has the mountain range like their license plates. The White Sox focuses on the Southside of Chicago, as that is where they are located and having a split city fanbase with the Cubs.
So what could the Blue Jays City Connect look like? The jerseys could focus on the Toronto skyline as it is a major part of the city’s identity. Everyone knows that skyline with the CN Tower standing tall above the rest of the downtown core.
It would also be a cool touch if instead of saying Toronto it says The Six for the area code of Toronto and the 6 municipalities that came to create the Greater Toronto Area we know today. A nickname given to the city by Drake, whose company OVO currently inspires the Toronto Raptors City Edition uniforms with an elegant black and gold the city has grown to appreciate despite the fanbase clamouring for a purple dinosaur throwback instead.
There are a lot of directions that they can go with this jersey focusing on the city, or because the Blue Jays are the only Canadian MLB team could they focus more on Canada. To get a better idea of the style that Nike and MLB are going with the jerseys I’m going to give my top 10 current City Connect Jerseys.
1. Chicago White Sox
In my opinion the White Sox have the cleanest City Connect jersey. Staking their claim on the Southside of Chicago, fuelling the fire of what’s become more than a centurial crosstown rivalry with the Cubs on the Northside. The font they chose pays homage to the Chicago Tribune. The black Jersey with grey pinstripes just works so well together and creates such a slick-looking Jersey.
2. Miami Marlins
The bright red with the light blue and white combine to create such a fresh-looking Jersey. Based off of the Cuban Sugar Kings, a team that played every day in hopes of being the first-ever MLB franchise outside of the USA.
3. Washinton Nationals
The Washington Nationals City Connect is simple but clean. The Grey with the slight pink of the cherry blossom makes the jersey look elegant. The cherry blossom is a spring staple in Washington, and encourages the locals to celebrate hope and new beginnings. The cherry blossom trees were a gift from the people of Japan, and that only tightens the connection to the city.
4. Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies City Connect jersey is a reflection of the green Colorado license plates with snowy mountain tops. The way the mountain green continues all the way down to the pants instead of switching to white generates character on the diamond.
5. Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds city conncect jerseys are really sleek. I love the all black with the letters being outlined in half white and red. The red on black just makes for a very menacing jersey. The modernization of this uniform fits with the team and all the rookies coming up giving the Reds a new look and to bring the team back to winning baseball games.
6. San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres City Connect jersey brings two cultures together. San Diego is a very diverse city with lots of spanish culture all over. The vibrant colors of the jersey are a big shake up from the Padres normal brown and yellow. I think overall the jersey works very well all together.
7. Houston Astros
The Houston Astros City Connect has a very retro futuristic look. Focusing on the space connection, the Astros stick to the orange and blue that they normally have, but this time using more dark blue and different shades of orange for the words and trim. I like how the font fits the Jersey and uses a NASA themed ‘SPACE CITY’ a drive home the tight bond the city has with world renowned space administration.
8. Seattle Mariners
The blue and yellow on this jersey just combines so well. The letters have slight shadowss to give them a 3D feel. The font is part of their old jerseys, which gives it somewhat of a retro feel with a mix of a new blue to also add a modernized base.
9. Baltimore Orioles
The all black and gritty bold text gives the Baltimore Orioles City Connect Jersey a strong presence. The colorful pattern of the sleeves represents the various neighborhoods in Baltimore. Having it on the inside of jersey was to showcase the colorful interior of the city.
10. Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Angels City Connect Jersey features an off white prominence, with a retro styled Angels font looks quite basic, but still very nice. The look of this jersey was to represent the beaches of California with an almost sandy white, while bringing back the old Anaheim Angels logo style across the chest.