The 2023 Major League Baseball season is here! Finally. Fantastic! Thus begins seven consecutive months of not trying to figure out what to watch on television every night, at least in my house; if it’s baseball season, we’re watching a game. I love it.
Every year I take a look through all the new MLB logos, uniforms, and other little changes we can expect to see throughout the year. This season the big news involves Nike’s new “Four Plus One” uniform policy as well as those dreaded jersey ads.
I’ll run through the league’s “jewel events” first before doing a team-by-team breakdown. So, let’s get right to it!
2023 MLB OPENING DAY LOGO
We’ll start things off with the 2023 Opening Day logo because, well, it’s topical.
The league is using the same templated design as they have used since the 2018 season. “OPENING DAY” is again in navy blue lettering above red, white, and blue bunting. The league logo appears above the logo with the year 2023 flanking it on either side.
You can see what past MLB Opening Day logos looked like here, though there’s a lot of repetition in there.
2023 MLB ALL-STAR GAME LOGO
This Summer, the Major League Baseball Mid-Summer Classic returns to Seattle for the first time since 2001 with this “Northwest Green” and navy blue design.
The logo pays tribute to both the nature and city sides of life in the Pacific Northwest. In the upper left, we see the skyline of Seattle with its famous Space Needle transitioning into a silhouette of navy blue evergreen trees in the upper right. Behind everything, the dominating presence of Mount Rainier towers above them, all with a setting sun in the distance. The Mariners will wear this logo as a patch on their left jersey sleeves throughout the 2023 season.
You can read much more about the design of this logo including an interview with the team that made it right here, or you can check out the history of MLB All-Star Game logos here.
2023 WORLD SERIES LOGO
The 2023 World Series logo hasn’t officially been revealed yet; however, thanks to the eagle eyes of Twitter user @SRUnfiltered we were able to get an early look at the design.
Spotted on the preview thumbnail of an MLB.com article on Google (see? eagle eyes), the logo shows the Commissioner’s Trophy to the left of “WORLD SERIES” in white lettering, the MLB logo to the upper left, the year 2023 above in gold in between two gold lines, and the Capital One logo below. Now, this is being presented on a dark background; I imagine the white background version of the logo will have the lettering in navy blue rather than white.
No other 2023 Postseason logos have yet been spotted, but I’m sure they’ll all follow this general formula — gold lines, this same typeface, and so on. Swap out “World Series” for “ALCS” etc.
Check out the full history of World Series logos here
2023 MLB WORLD TOUR LOGOS
Major League Baseball will be staging two series outside of Canada and the United States during the 2023 season. First, the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants will travel to Mexico City, Mexico for two games at Alfredo Harp Helu Stadium on April 29th and April 30th. The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals will skip across the Atlantic to play two at London Stadium in the United Kingdom on June 24th and 25th.
The logos for both events are relatively the same with the same MLB WORLD TOUR heading and duelling team logos on either side of a shield with the city name and year placed within. Slight difference in the typefaces and shield shapes between the two.
There will not be an MLB at Field of Dreams game this season due to construction at the site; the 2023 MLB Little League Classic will be played in Williamsport, Pennsylvania between the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals on August 20. No logo yet, as far as I can tell, for that one. Spring Training has come and gone, but there was still a whole logo set for that; you can check that whole set out in an earlier post we did over right here.
2023 NEW LOGOS AND UNIFORMS FOR MLB TEAMS
In terms of new logos and uniforms, there’s not a lot! Across the league, only one team made any major change to their logos and uniforms — of the other 29 teams, not a single one introduced a new home, road, or alternate uniform. Uniform designations changed, some were eliminated (lookin’ at you “Four Plus One” rule), and others got promoted, but aside from that one club (and this year’s roster of City Connects), the 2023 season will look a lot like 2022… well, except for one notable difference.
The advertisements.
Starting this season, clubs are permitted to wear an advertisement on the sleeves of their jerseys. Patches can be a maximum of 4? x 4? and are not required to be placed in a uniform position across the entire team. Some teams are swapping the ads from the left-to-right arm (and vice-versa) depending on whether the player hits/throws left or right. Why? To maximize camera time. Left-handed hitters, for example, face the camera with their right arm; righties with their left arm. After some quick perusing at photo day portraits, it appears switch hitters will wear the ad on their right arm on teams that are doing the arm swapping with the patches.
With that unpleasantness out of the way, let’s take a trip around the league. If your team is not listed below, it means everything will be the same uniform-wise for your club in 2023 based on what we know entering the season.
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
The Arizona Diamondbacks are shaking things up a bit, mostly due to the Four Plus One rule. This season Arizona is eliminating their home white uniforms (the ones with the predominantly red/black colour scheme) and replacing them with the teal-trimmed version which was previously listed as an alternate set. Also gone are the caps with just the snake head on the crown, replaced with a return to their previously dumped teal-trimmed “A” logo cap.
The D-backs will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their inaugural season in the National League with a commemorative patch which will be worn on the side of their caps, not on the jersey sleeves. Why not on the sleeves? Because there will be an advertisement for Avnet there instead. The Avnet patch will swap sides with the snake-head sleeve patch depending on if the player is a lefty or a righty for maximum camera time.
Finally, in a minor logo housekeeping move, the Diamondbacks are eliminating the black version of their “ARIZONA” and “D-BACKS” logos in favour of red ones, trimmed in both sand and teal. These are not the same wordmarks worn on their on-field uniforms; instead, these are versions just used for media purposes and on some merchandise.
ATLANTA BRAVES
“The A” were the first team to introduce a new City Connect uniform for the 2023 season, dropping theirs earlier this week. The uniform is a tribute both to the City of Atlanta as well as the legacy of Hank Aaron and his quest to surpass Babe Ruth’s all-time Home Run record in the early 1970s. Atlanta will wear this throwback-inspired uniform for every Saturday home game starting with their April 8th tilt against the San Diego Padres.
Much more on this uniform including photos, details, and explanations of all the little bits of the design in my post right here.
BALTIMORE ORIOLES
The Baltimore Orioles will get a new City Connect uniform in May of this year; it’ll make its first appearance in a game on May 26. Until that happens, the only change you’ll notice is the Maryland sleeve patch will bounce between left and right sleeves depending on if a player is left or right-handed. No ad has been announced for the O’s as of this time, but you gotta figure it’s coming if they’re already doing this with their regular sleeve patch.
BOSTON RED SOX
The Boston Red Sox will wear an advertisement for MassMutual as a patch on their jersey sleeves. Like the D-backs, this patch will flip sides depending on if a player is left or right-handed.
CINCINNATI REDS
The Cincinnati Reds are wearing an advertisement for Kroger on their jersey sleeves, swapping around depending on left or right-handed; just like the D-backs and Orioles they’ve got to swap their regular sleeve logo around to make this work — unlike the other teams, the Reds have had to create a whole new logo in order to make this work because, of course, Mr. Redlegs has to be running in the proper direction (uh, forward).
As far as I know, just about every team will flip the ad patch to the sleeve that gets the most camera time — what makes the Reds situation unique is that they actually needed to create a new team logo to make it happen. pic.twitter.com/GIfwXt8wYK
— Chris Creamer (@sportslogosnet) February 22, 2023
Cincinnati will also be getting a City Connect uniform during the season; their new yet-to-be-revealed uniform will make its in-game debut on May 19.
COLORADO ROCKIES
The Colorado Rockies will mark the 30th anniversary of their first season with a special patch that will be worn on the left sleeve of their home white, road grey, and alternate purple jerseys. The patch does not appear on their black sleeveless vest jerseys in the club’s 2023 style guide. The logo shows a 30 in silver on a purple and black circle with silver trim. A banner below shows the club’s founding and current season, as well as its purple mountain logo. This patch will replace the Rockies logo which is usually worn on the sleeves just for the 2023 season.
HOUSTON ASTROS
The Houston Astros will celebrate their 2022 World Series Championship by wearing a gold-trimmed version of their usual home whites for the first two games of the season — March 30 and March 31st. The design is similar to what they wore to kick off the 2018 season with a few colours flipped around. If Houston wins another World title, I wouldn’t mind seeing them just break out their 1994-99 navy and gold uniforms.
SHOP: Houston Astros gold-trimmed World Champions caps and jerseys available now
Houston is also one of those teams adding an advertisement to their sleeves; the Astros will wear the logo of OXY. Like the others, the patch flips sides depending on if the player is left or right-handed, swapping spots with the team’s usual sleeve logo.
Finally, though they haven’t been worn a single time since the 2018 season, the Astros have only just now officially eliminated the orange-crowned, navy-billed caps from their uniform set.
KANSAS CITY ROYALS
The Kansas City Royals will have a little fun by wearing matching powder blue pants with their usual powder blue alternate tops for the Opening Day game at home on March 30, 2023. This will be the first time the Royals have worn a full-powder blue uniform at home in the club’s 55-season history. I interviewed the team about this one right here.
Kansas City will also play host to their annual “Salute to the Negro Leagues” game this season on September 16 against the Houston Astros. Typically, the Royals will wear Kansas City Monarchs throwbacks for these games with their opponents joining in with a regionally-appropriate Negro Leagues uniform; at this time no word on if the throwbacks will be happening in 2023.
In minor logo housekeeping news, the Royals’ interlocked “KC” logo that’s always been worn on their caps is now an official alternate team logo.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS
The Los Angeles Angels are adding an advertisement for Foundation Building Materials (or FBM) to their uniform sleeves. To make room for this, the roundel “Angels Baseball” logo patch has been eliminated entirely from their jerseys. The “Halo-A” logo patch will remain, flipping around like the other teams based on if the player is left or right-handed.
MIAMI MARLINS
Like the Rockies, the Miami Marlins are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their first season in the big leagues. Unlike the Rockies, the Marlins will not be wearing an anniversary logo on their uniforms. Instead, the Marlins will mark the occasion by wearing 1993 throwback uniforms for “at least five” Friday home games in 2023. No complaints from me, other than it should be for “at least” 81 home games.
SHOP: Florida Marlins teal throwback merchandise from Homage
Miami has also announced they’ll be wearing the bright blue octagon of ADT as an advertisement on their jersey sleeves throughout 2023. Reports suggest the deal is for 3 years and will net the club $5 million per season.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS
Milwaukee, like Baltimore, is simply flipping their sleeve patch around from player to player in anticipation of adding a jersey ad patch sometime this season.
MINNESOTA TWINS
Here’s the one team to do something big this off-season. The Minnesota Twins got an entirely new uniform set and cleaned up their logos, finally creating a unified brand after decades of piecing together beloved bits of several different eras.
SHOP: Brand new 2023 Minnesota Twins caps, jerseys, shirts and more!
The “TC” logo has gotten a new look, with the serifs now smoothed out. The home uniforms have a simple, single-coloured red wordmark across the chest with custom-font player numbers in blue. Road greys bring back the pinstripes with a new “M-Star” logo cap representing the North Star. Alternate tops include a new navy blue top with “MINNESOTA” across the chest and a cream-coloured “Twin Cities” uniform with a cream version of their “TC” logo on the caps.
An added bit of goodness on this set is the return of the tri–coloured batting helmets for home games. Just lovely.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Probably my favourite bit of the Philadelphia Phillies uniforms was the player numbers on the sleeves; they had been there since the current set was introduced waaaaaay back in 1992. Welp, they’re gone now. I can only speculate this was due to the anticipated addition of a jersey advertisement. Sorry, everyone.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES
The Pittsburgh Pirates have eliminated the military green jersey as an official alternate uniform, likely to get in under the Four Plus One requirement. I stress the “official” part of that because I feel it’ll stick around one way or another; it’s worth noting the camouflage cap is still listed in their 2023 style guide. If I had to guess, and I assure you this is just a guess, the Pirates will find a way to hold some sort of military appreciation game which would allow them to bring back the camo tops for a game or two, similar to how the Blue Jays will wear red for Canada Day or the Red Sox wear the “BOSTON” jerseys on Patriots’ Day. Again, just a guess.
Pittsburgh will also be adding a City Connect uniform to its rotation; their new outfit will make its in-game debut on June 27th.
SAN DIEGO PADRES
The San Diego Padres will wear an advertisement for Motorola on their jersey sleeves; the Padres were the first MLB club to announce a jersey ad deal. Feel free to add that nugget to your collection of miscellaneous trivia knowledge. Due to the ad, the Padres are flipping patches around depending on if the player is right or left-handed but unlike the Reds; the Padres will not create a different version of their sleeve patch; this means we’ll see the Friar facing forward on some players and backwards on others.
Speaking of ads and the Swingin’ Friar, in order to make room for the Motorola ad, the friar has been stripped from the Padres’ camouflage uniforms; the American flag patch will remain. Yes, the Padres will continue to wear two different camouflage uniforms, which means they will have FIVE plus one uniforms in 2023. Scandalous!
SEATTLE MARINERS
Seattle couldn’t escape the four-plus-one rule like San Diego did. In order to make sure their four favourite uniforms could continue to be worn, the M’s eliminated their road grey set. This makes the Mariners one of just two in the Majors not to have a grey jersey (the other one is the next team featured in this post, who said alphabetical order isn’t fun?). I spoke with the team about this decision in a post here. Instead, the Mariners will wear their navy blue uniforms (now officially classified as their road set) for away games; the Northwest Green/Teal set is also available to be worn for road games should the team decide to do so.
The Seattle Mariners will also wear a patch celebrating their hosting of the 2023 MLB All-Star Game on the left sleeve of their jerseys; this will replace the Mariners’ primary logo which usually is worn on their jersey sleeve for the season.
Finally, the Mariners are one of the six teams getting a new City Connect uniform this year. You can expect to see it on the field for the first time on May 5th.
TAMPA BAY RAYS
The Tampa Bay Rays have dropped their road grey uniforms in order to bring their 1998-styled Devil Rays throwback uniforms officially into the rotation. This decision allows the Rays to wear the fan favourites many more times per season (up to fourteen times per year now versus the three-to-five times in past years) as well as the ability to produce Devil Rays branded Authentic Collection gear.
SHOP: Throwback Tampa Bay Devil Rays merchandise from Homage
Like their expansion cousins over in Phoenix, the Tampa Bay Rays will celebrate their 25th anniversary season in 2023 with a special jersey and cap patch. This patch shows the original devil ray as well as the sun ray logo on either side of a “25” on the oval shape from the first team logo.
In minor logo housekeeping news, the Rays have added their interlocking “TB” logo as an official alternate logo.
Finally, in memory of their longtime radio announcer, the Rays will honour Dave Wills with a commemorative helmet decal. Wills died during the 2023 Spring Training campaign at the age of 58. This special logo decal has not yet been revealed.
TEXAS RANGERS
The Texas Rangers have eliminated their red alternate tops in order to fit in under the Four Plus One guideline, opting instead to keep their powder blue set. Also getting the axe is their seemingly unpopular State of Texas “TX” alternate caps, though the “TX” logo itself will remain as an official team alternate logo.
Texas will be getting a new City Connect uniform, on-field debut scheduled for April 21st.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS
The Washington Nationals will honour the memory of owner Ted Lerner with a navy blue oval patch reading TNL in white below three white stars. This patch will be placed above the Nats’ primary logo patch presumably to ensure it doesn’t take any attention away from the jersey advertisement that is almost certainly coming soon. Speaking of, the Nats are one of those teams flipping their team logo patch around based on if the player is right or left-handed.
Washington, like Tampa Bay and Kansas City, is making their cap logo an official alternate logo; in this case, it’s the curly W.
And that’s it! I’m sure there will be a few surprises along the way, but as of now, this is everything I know in terms of Major League Baseball’s new logo and uniforms for the 2023 season. If there’s anything I missed, please let me know in the comments, and I’ll be sure to add it. Thanks for reading!
