Anthony GharibApr 9, 2026, 10:00 AM ET
WHEN RONALD ACUÑA JR. first saw the Atlanta Braves' new City Connect uniform -- baby blue, with an old-school "Atlanta" script across the chest -- he fell in love.
"We're going to win a lot of games in these," Acuña said.
Acuña is a three-time All-Star who loves making fashion part of his game. Last year, he modeled for a Nike underwear campaign. He was among a select group of players who got a sneak peek at the 2026 uniforms in early February. For Acuña, on-field fashion is all about staying loose and "needing to be fresh."
Major League Baseball's City Connect uniforms, which debuted in 2021, aim to be just that.
On Thursday, eight teams unveiled their second City Connect designs: the Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers. Unlike the rolling reveals of previous years, every 2026 uniform was announced on the same day.
Though the City Connect uniforms have been polarizing at times, MLB envisions them continuing well into the future. The league views them as a key part of its ongoing efforts to appeal to younger fans and to capture the spirit, said MLB deputy commissioner Noah Garden, of the game's newest generation of players.
"We have the most young players breaking through in our game at the same time than we've ever had in our history," Garden said. "They're into fashion. They're into culture. They're obviously into their team. And this program kind of gets you an opportunity to put it all together in a way that is, on the one hand, respectful to the overall history of the game and the team in which they play. And on the other hand, is as culture forward enough to attract a younger generation of fans."
To the league and its apparel partner, Nike, each design is more than just another uniform.
"It really is a cultural expression," Ryan Airhart, director of MLB apparel design at Nike, said. "We look at it as an opportunity to give players and fans new ways to show pride in their team and their city, both on and off the field. So we really look to make sure that whatever we deliver on-field is going to make an impact."
To some players, City Connect has been a success. Padres star Jackson Merrill echoed Acuña's take on looking fresh, telling ESPN in February that he feels like a different player when he wears them. Reds ace Hunter Greene went further, saying he wants to see even more unique uniforms in baseball.
"It's only right that we continue to kind of push the limits when it comes to fashion," Greene said. "For the guys that really appreciate it and that are into fashion, it's more exciting for them. And they look forward to putting it on and really playing up to that performance when they're wearing something that they really feel good in and they really like."
Good news for the league's fashion gurus: City Connect is far from finishing its trip around the bases.
THE FIRST CITY CONNECT look, a yellow(!) Boston Red Sox uniform that threw out all the rules at Fenway Park, set the stage for future designs.
"It took some convincing to get the program started," Garden said. "And the first one, if you go back, was the yellow Boston jersey. And I grew up in Boston, so I understood the significance right away. But when people who didn't, weren't just close to Boston, saw it ... people were going nuts."
Working with Nike, clubs have focused on telling the story of their respective cities and regions while thinking outside the box to reach younger, more casual fans even if it might rile up older ones.
For the Red Sox, that meant tossing aside their classic colors to pay homage to the Boston Marathon, held annually on the city's Patriots' Day. The colors were inspired by the marathon's renowned yellow and blue finish line.
In 2024, the Twins focused on the thousands of lakes across Minnesota. This season, the Brewers are matter-of-factly referring to their new look, which features "Wisco" across the front and a gradient inspired by the summer sunsets of Wisconsin, as "State Connect."
The Red Sox kicked off "what has been an amazing run," Garden said. In five years, MLB has unveiled 37 City Connect uniforms, including multiple designs for nine teams. Fenway's famed Green Monster inspired a second Red Sox design. As far as the league is concerned, the program is here to stay.
"I can't see us stopping this anytime soon. ... Nike's been an outstanding partner. It was their idea. Fanatics has been able to execute this at a high level for us," Garden said. "And the three of us working together with the clubs just has been awesome, and I hope that that continues far into the future and past the date of expiration of our deals."
Despite how most teams have embraced them, two teams have yet to participate in the City Connect series: the New York Yankees and Athletics.
It's been a unique situation for the Athletics, who flirted with relocation before it became official in November 2023 that they would move to Las Vegas. They're now playing in Sacramento with their ballpark under construction and set to open ahead of the 2028 season. The Athletics and Nike are working with MLB on their design, with the expectation to have one in their early Las Vegas years.
It's still an open question when it comes to the Yankees. Conversations between MLB and the team about a uniform have been "ongoing since the beginning," Garden said.
"I think the Yankees, being one of the most iconic teams in sports, period, I think they will eventually do it as well. I'm hoping to see some flexibility in the future."
One sticking point in conversations with the Yankees has been that their traditional look is a big part of their branding -- but part of Nike's job is keeping the designs fresh.
Airhart acknowledges that "you're never going to please everybody." Instead, Nike is focused on adding something unique to a team's wardrobe.
"The rest of the closet is there for the traditional fan. It's there to service every day, and be a part of their history," Airhart said. "So knowing that they have the rest of the uniforms to really satisfy that fan base, we feel like it's a little bit easier to take a stab and kind of push the boundaries a bit."
If those boundaries go beyond baseball, even better. Airhart pointed to the Chicago White Sox's "Southside" design, from 2021, as a prime example of a uniform that caught on culturally.
"[It's about] making sure that it connects to the sport, connects to the game, it's relevant to the game. Also, really kind of pulling insights from and inspiration around the community," he said. "Not only just the avid fans, but just people around the community that surround the game ... just making sure that we really acknowledge the culture of the city."
EACH CITY CONNECT design begins with the team.
Nike's job is to assist in bringing that team's vision to life, but stays out of the initial conversations, allowing each club to brainstorm internally. Once the team feels it's in a good spot, Nike helps it dive into the narrative.
"Everything starts with [a] story," Airhart said. "If you can have a cool uniform that has no story, it's not going to resonate with the fans."
Baltimore's new design is a "love letter to Camden Yards and the city," Amanda Ozarowski, Orioles' vice president of brand and content, told ESPN. The look features colors and elements directly taken from their ballpark -- an orange trim for the warehouse beyond the right-field fence and green inspired by Camden Yards' seats.
Ozarowski explained it took "many, many rounds of color testing" to have the most accurate color of orange and green on the uniforms.
"We were working with Nike closely as they have their own set of colorways," Ozarowski said. "So lots of rounds of reviews to make sure that that's all authentic."
It's similar to how the Brewers found the right sunset gradient for their look.
According to Brewers COO Marti Wronski, Milwaukee captured "in a million ways" the color of the sunset, including videos of how the colors of the sky changes over the ballpark versus over the water. They then sent it over to designers to play with, beginning a back-and-forth process to find the right combination.
It created some anxiety among the teams -- that the proper color wouldn't carry over from real life to photography to fabric.
"Having worked with Fanatics and Nike and everyone in the past, we have a great relationship with all of them. We know that they honor these things and branding and this process," Wrosnki told ESPN. "So they're just as meticulous as we are about all of this. But still there are those moments where you fear that what you're trying to capture can't actually be translated to certain materials."
Teams have also involved players in the process. Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman played a minor role in his club's latest look, being part of a select group of Baltimore players to be shown the uniform last year during its final stages.
"To be able to weigh in subtly on like the smallest parts of it and really just get excited about what they had designed was the coolest part," Rutschman said.
Though Rutschman was involved in the Orioles' City Connect process early, other players didn't see their new uniforms until a photo shoot with Nike in February.
Pirates ace Paul Skenes, who said he tends to prefer more traditional uniforms, liked Pittsburgh's new Connect design, which doesn't deviate from the team's classic black and gold color scheme.
"It's pirate-y," he said.
Outfielders Wyatt Langford of the Rangers and Christian Yelich of the Brewers said they also like a classic look. Langford likes different designs but "not anything super crazy or colorful." The Rangers' new red look is one he thinks isn't flashy, so it works. Yelich doesn't want his team to stray too far but said he likes that City Connect allows the Brewers to mix it up with an alternate look that "pops a little bit more."
Rutschman had high praise for the O's new uniforms.
"I just love the creativity of it. It's like you get to go out, have a different type of jersey," he said. "And I think guys get excited about it because it takes them out of the norm and it's because it just becomes this fun thing that you're able to do."
The league currently has a four-plus-one uniform structure: home, away, two alternates and a City Connect. If teams want, a previous City Connect uniform can take the spot of an alternate when a new design drops. It's too early to tell when a third City Connect uniform will be added to the mix, as 11 teams have yet to do a second design. However, 2029 is a reasonable target year for City Connect 3.0.
"We don't want to take any years off. It's an effective program," Garden said. "We don't want to go dark."
That's music to Acuña's ears. He follows a simple mantra, chuckling as he shared it:
"When you look good," he said, "you play good."
