MLB Jersey Rankings

By: David Furtado, MLB Analyst

While we’re all stuck in quarantine with no live sports, I’ve decided to share with everyone one of my passions, jerseys. Specifically MLB jerseys, and in this article I’ll be ranking all thirty teams based off of their full lineup of 2020 jerseys. Keep in mind these are just my personal opinions and there’s a high chance nobody agrees with any of my rankings. With that being said let’s dive right in and rank some jerseys!

30. Miami Marlins

Favorite Jersey: Home White; Least Favorite Jersey: Black Alternate

Let’s be honest, the Marlins jerseys are just as bad as the team, if not worse. I never thought I’d want those hideous orange, blue, and pink monstrosities they debuted in their move to Miami, but here I am. Overall this lineup would be much better if Miami eliminated the black alternate jersey with black writing, and made the hate something other than black on black. With that being said the standard home white is a simple design that I do actually like, I just wish the rest were as good. The Marlins would definitely be well served to shake up their current look a little bit, or you know, just go back to the teal and black pinstripes of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.

29. Cleveland Indians

Favorite Jersey: Red Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Road Gray

The Indians had a much better jersey lineup three years ago. Eliminating the Chief Wahoo logo in and of itself wasn’t a bad idea, but to replace it with a block “C” was. Cleveland for the most part has the same jersey logo lineup that they did when Chief Wahoo was their mascot, but with the block “C” on the hat and the script letters on the jersey it just doesn’t look right. Despite the mismatch I do really like their red alternate jerseys with the navy script writing. Take out the awful hat and this is probably a top ten single jersey in the league. However the rest of the jerseys leave a lot to be desired. The navy alternates are okay at best and the road grays are just plain boring. I understand there isn’t a ton you can do with gray, but I’d like more than plain gray with navy block lettering. My biggest ask of the Indians is to get a better logo than a plain “C”.

28. Detroit Tigers

Favorite Jersey: Road Gray; Least Favorite Jersey: Home White

Can we say boring? I get that Detroit has a classic look that hasn’t ever undergone a drastic change, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re just boring beyond belief. Their home uniforms are just white with the navy “D” in Old English font. I do like their road jerseys though where they at least splash in a dab of orange with their otherwise boring and drab color scheme. My biggest want for the Tigers jersey lineup is to maybe add an alternate or at the very least incorporate orange into their color scheme a little more than it currently is. Overall it’s just too plain for my taste.

27. Washington Nationals

Favorite Jersey: Navy Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Home White/Navy

This is probably my first truly controversial ranking. I’m just not a huge fan of the Nationals full jersey lineup. Something about the way they use the navy and red scheme doesn’t really work for me, and don’t even get me started on that Walgreens W. Despite their shortcomings, I do really like the navy alternate jerseys they wore in the World Series last year, which really confused me because I typically don’t love straight up navy jerseys. The Nationals are bringing in some minor tweaks to their 2020 lineup, including a home alternate with navy blue lettering and a red trim. I do not like these at all. The plain white with the red lettering was perfectly fine and there was no need to add more navy to a uniform that really didn’t need it. Overall I’m not a huge fan of the Nationals jersey lineup outside of that navy blue alternate with red lettering.

26. Arizona Diamondbacks

Favorite Jersey: Sedona Red Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: White w/Teal Numbers

I’ll hand it to Nike and the Diamondbacks, this new lineup is a million times better than what they’ve had for the last few years. I couldn’t stand the dark gray road uniform and the weird shoulder coloring. My biggest plus for Arizona is that they got rid of that, however they’re still just okay, nothing really jumps out as great to me. My favorite of the bunch is easily the Sedona Red Alternate with black lettering. It’s just a clean look and it works with gray and white pants so it can be worn at any time. The worst in this lineup is by far the white jersey with black lettering and what I can only describe as neon teal numbers and trim. These are just straight up awful, it’s like someone put the current home white jersey in a blender with the home white from 2001, and threw a glow stick in for good measure. The teal isn’t even the right kind of teal for a D-Backs jersey and to have it mixed with the black just looks straight up bad. Take this jersey out of the lineup and it’s probably higher on the list.

25. Tampa Bay Rays

Favorite Jersey: Columbia Blue Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Navy Alternate

At least their jerseys are better than their stadium. I was a huge fan of the green Devil Rays uniforms growing up, with Carl Crawford being one of my favorite players. So initially I hated this current lineup when it debuted in 2008, but it’s since grown on me a little bit. The columbia blue alternate is one of my favorite jerseys in baseball, and I wish they’d go to those as a full time home uniform. Their regular home and road are pretty plain and there’s not much to get excited about with a mainly white and navy color scheme. My least favorite of their jerseys is their navy alternate where you can’t see the numbers. It’s navy on navy and the only other colors are a white trim on the numbers and front lettering as well as a columbia blue trim. They’re just unnecessarily difficult to see from any type of distance and if they were scrapped I wouldn’t miss them.

24. Texas Rangers

Favorite Jersey: Powder Blue Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Home White

This new lineup of jerseys for the Rangers is beyond confusing. Are they going with script lettering, are they keeping that unique Rangers lettering they’ve had for years? Well, turns out it’s a little of both, and I don’t love it. The new home white is just not good, a red hat with the old style “T” the team has used for years, and a white jersey with blue script lettering. It’s just incohesive and doesn’t sit well with me, pick one style text or the other. Don’t take this as me being anti script because I’m not, my favorite of this lineup is the new powder blue with script lettering. The hat does have that “T” on it in Ranger font, but at least the colors match up to the point that it doesn’t drive me nuts. The script and the old style font are fine on their own, but there’s too much mixing and matching with these uniforms for me to put them any higher than they are.

23. Chicago White Sox

Favorite Jersey: Home White; Least Favorite Jersey: Black Alternate

The White Sox are a pretty interesting case. I don’t really have much of an opinion on them to be honest. I think they pull off the simple black and white color scheme well, and I do really enjoy their home pinstripes. One thing I would improve is the alternate jerseys. I’m not a huge fan of the black alternate jersey they currently have in the lineup, and with a team like the White Sox there are much better options. For instance I wouldn’t say no to replacing the black alternates full time with the throwback white and red that they feature on occasion. All in all it’s not a terrible set of jerseys, but it could be much better.

22. Houston Astros

Favorite Jersey: Orange Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Navy Alternate

Alright folks let’s pile on the Astros shall we? Houston brings out a wide range of opinions from me. They have a few jerseys in their current lineup that I really like, mainly their orange alternates with navy lettering which just flat out look awesome. On the other hand they have those awful navy blue jerseys with the throwback style yellow/orange side panels. I’m probably in the minority here, but I just don’t like those 1970’s Astros throwbacks, so the subtle nod on the sides of a navy jersey really just doesn’t get it done for me. They look more like batting practice jerseys than anything else. Like I said Houston’s lineup brings out a wide range of opinions from me, but as a whole it’s a pretty average, and sometimes overrated jersey lineup. 

21. Minnesota Twins

Favorite Jersey: Powder Blue Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Road Gray

First thing’s first, I miss the Twins pinstripes. Alright now that I have that out of the way let’s evaluate the Twins jersey lineup. Overall it’s alright, fairly simple, but it looks decent. They added a powder blue alternate over the winter that I absolutely love. They look similar to the Ole Miss powder blue uniforms which are easily in the top five of NCAA uniforms. The red plays off the powder blue really well and it’s just a great look. On the other hand their road grays leave something to be desired. Something about the way the navy and the darker shade of red the Twins use just doesn’t look great on a gray jersey. There really isn’t much the team could do about it other than overhaul their entire color scheme, which is crazy and definitely unneeded. The home whites and navy alternate for Minnesota are both fine, no real knock on them, but nothing stands out either. My only real ask of the Twins is to bring back the pinstripes, those were just flat out awesome. 

20. Pittsburgh Pirates

Favorite Jersey: Road Gray; Least Favorite Jersey: Black Alternate

Pittsburgh was another team that got some new threads from Nike this winter, bringing on a new alternate and a new road uniform. Both of the new jerseys switched from that iconic Pirates lettering to a script font. This would be fine and to be honest it looks great on the road gray jersey, but they didn’t change the home uniform. I think by now it’s apparent that I want things to match throughout a jersey lineup and the Pirates just don’t have that. I’m also not a huge fan of the new alternates with black lettering and yellow trim. I think having the lettering be solid yellow would have looked much better. It’s a shame because if I had done this rankings last year, the Pirates would absolutely have been higher up on my list, but the new alternate and the fact that the home jersey stands out like a sore thumb when compared to the rest really knocked it down on my rankings.

19. Cincinnati Reds

Favorite Jersey: Red Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Literally any of their 2019 throwbacks

The Reds got a new alternate this year, and I have to say I absolutely love it. They tweaked the red alternate jersey so that it now has “Reds” written across the front in script lettering as opposed to the Reds logo on the upper left of the jersey. It’s a pretty subtle change, but it made the alternate jersey ten times better. Now I’m breaking away from the protocol here for a minute to say that the worst Reds jersey is any throwback that they wore during the 2019 season. Some of the highlights include the gray vests which they rocked as tank tops, an all navy blue with red lettering getup that beckoned back to the early 1900’s, and a simply hideous look with white jerseys and red pants. While the sleeveless grays were fun, mainly because of Derek Dietrich doing curls on the bench, they were pretty ugly, as were the other throwbacks. As a whole the Reds lineup is pretty simple, but looks good and those new alternates are awesome. 

18. Milwaukee Brewers

Favorite Jersey: Home White; Least Favorite Jersey: Navy Alternate

This pick might also be pretty controversial. Milwaukee got a complete rebrand this winter with four new jerseys. The best part of this rebrand is that the Brewers went back to the ball in the glove logo which I absolutely love. Outside of that I’m not crazy about the new lineup. The best look of the bunch is the plain home white/creme jersey. I’m a pretty big fan of the off white jerseys so these definitely appeal to me. Their pinstripe look is pretty solid as well, but the regular home jersey takes the cake for me. As far as what is the worst of this lineup, look no further than the navy blue alternate. These look like a ripoff of the University of Michigan’s jerseys, which I’m not the biggest fan of to begin with. The worst part of the whole uniform is the hat, navy with a yellow panel in the front. It’s just not a good look, and without it this set is much better. With that being said my only want for Milwaukee is to scrap the navy alternates and try something else in it’s place.

17. Kansas City Royals

Favorite Jersey: Columbia Blue Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Royal Blue Alternate

The Royals have a pretty solid lineup of jerseys and take home the honor of top ranked in the American League Central. Nothing changed in their lineup with the switch to Nike, but there wasn’t really a need for change. The columbia blue alternates are fantastic, and one of my favorite looks in the league. On the other hand I don’t like the royal blue alternates at all. I don’t really know why, but for whatever reason I just don’t like looking at them. If I could make one suggestion to the Royals it would be to just scrap the royal blue and stick with the columbia as the full time alternate.

16. Chicago Cubs

Favorite Jersey: Home White; Least Favorite Jersey: Blue Alternate

The Cubs are one of those classic teams that make their simple red and blue color scheme work like a charm. The home pinstripes are simply incredible and their road grays get about as much as one could hope to out of a road jersey. However I’m not a huge fan of their blue road alternate. I don’t want to come off as some crusty baseball purist, but the Cubs are a team that would be perfectly fine without an alternate jersey. The road jerseys are good enough to stand on their own and the alternate in my opinion is just unnecessary. 

15. Seattle Mariners

Favorite Jersey: Sunday Home Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Navy Alternate

The Mariners mark the third American League West team to appear so far on my rankings. They have one of the best color schemes in MLB with the combination of navy, teal, and silver. Despite the great color scheme, my favorite jersey in the Seattle set is the alternate the club wears on Sunday home games. This nod back to the Griffey Jr. days is phenomenal. The white jersey with royal blue and yellow lettering is stupendous and there aren’t many jerseys in the league that top it. However the regular home and road uniforms don’t make enough of the teal, which in my opninion is the best part of their color scheme. They do have a teal alternate which I like, but overall they leave a lot on the table as far as what they could do with their color scheme.

14. St. Louis Cardinals

Favorite Jersey: Off White Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Road Gray

The Cardinals, just like their rivals in Chicago, have such a classic look. Their current lineup includes four jerseys, the standard home white and road gray along with a powder blue and a cream/off white alternate. The off white jersey is easily the best in the set, giving the jersey a throwback look, without being a true throwback jersey. The home and road is a little less memorable, as they are basically both the same exact logo just pasted onto a white and a gray background. All in all St. Louis does bring that classic look to the table, but at the end of the day there are just better jersey lineups other places in the league.

13. New York Mets

Favorite Jersey: Road Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Road Gray

If the Mets could scrap their standard road gray, I honestly don’t think anybody would miss them. Their road alternate, blue with silver lettering and orange trim, is so much better than road gray jersey and should honestly just replace it. In addition to the excellent road alternate, the Mets home pinstripes are a great look and really make the most out of their orange and blue color scheme. The home alternate, which is pretty much the same as the road, but with straight up orange lettering is a solid look, but nothing to write home about in my opinion. One thing I’d love to see from the Mets is to bring back the black alternate jersey that was worn in the early 2000’s. Now if only the team was as good as the jerseys.

12. Colorado Rockies

Favorite Jersey: Purple Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Home White

There are few things better than purple in a sports uniform. The Rockies hit the nail on the head with their purple alternate jerseys. These are such a good look and bring the purple to the forefront which is where I think it should be. As far as the rest of their lineup it’s good, but could be and honestly used to be better. The pinstriped vets of old have been replaced by a regular pinstripe jersey, which I’m not a huge fan of. I really liked the pinstripe vest with the black undershirt and I think that it would be great if Colorado reverted back to this look in the future. The purple alternates coupled with the fact that my only real issue with the home jerseys is sleeves are what land the Rockies just outside my top ten.

11. Los Angeles Dodgers

Favorite Jersey: Road Gray; Least Favorite Jersey: Home White

The Dodgers bring a really simple and classic look to their jerseys. With a limited selection of jerseys you better make the ones you do have count, and I think the Dodgers do just that. I definitely favor their road gray above the home whites. The red front number with the blue back number looks better on the gray jersey than on the white in my opinion, however it’s really just a tossup, both jerseys are great and really encapsulate the history of the organization. Although it wasn’t quite enough to crack my top 10.

10. San Francisco Giants

Favorite Jersey: Orange Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Black Alternate

I’m a huge fan of the black and orange color scheme on jerseys, so obviously the Giants are some of my favorites. My top choice in their lineup is the orange alternate with black script lettering. This is such a great jersey and fits in with the rest of the home uniform extremely well. If they were to replace the home white with the orange alternate I wouldn’t mind one bit. With that being said I’m not really a fan of the black alternate jersey. I don’t know what it is, but something about the jersey just doesn’t really hit home with me. It’s still a solid jersey, but just not my cup of tea. Despite that, San Francisco has a phenomenal lineup of jerseys and is worthy of the first spot in my top ten. 

9. Boston Red Sox

Favorite Jersey: Road Gray; Least Favorite Jersey: Navy Alternate

This pick may come as a surprise to those who know me, because frankly, I just don’t like the Red Sox, but I’ll give them props, their jerseys are pretty great. The best one in the lineup in my opinion is the road gray with red lettering. I really like how the red plays on the gray jersey, for whatever reason it really pops. I hated when the Sox went with the navy blue block lettering on their road uniforms from 2009-2013, so when the red lettering was brought back in 2014 I was extremely happy. Out of the four jerseys in the Red Sox current lineup, there really isn’t a straight up bad choice, but my least favorite of the bunch is the navy road alternate. Overall I’m just not a fan of these. They seem kind of unnecessary when the standard road uniform for Boston is as good as it is. Like I said earlier, there really isn’t a bad jersey in this lineup, and the Sox classic look is definitely one of my favorites in baseball.

8. Los Angeles Angels

Favorite Jersey: Home White; Least Favorite Jersey: Road Gray

The Angels make my top ten for no other reason than the lettering on their jerseys is simply outstanding. Pair that awesome logo with a crisp white and red color scheme and you have one of the best looks in the league. Their home white uniform is phenomenal and in my opinion, one of the single best home uniforms in MLB. Their red alternate jersey is great as well and the fact that it can be paired with both white and gray pants makes it even better. My only drawback is the road grays are kind of lackluster. They’re really not bad, but when compared to the other two jerseys that Los Angeles features it just doesn’t stack up well at all. 

7. New York Yankees

Favorite Jersey: Home White; Least Favorite Jersey: Road Gray

I’m not sure whether having the Yankees at seventh is controversial or not. Obviously there isn’t a ton to dissect with the Yankees jersey selection. They feature the same two looks that they always have, the iconic pinstripes, and the road gray. Obviously with the road gray being about as plain as a jersey can be, my favorite Yankees jersey is the pinstripes. The look is just so iconic and instantly recognizable that it is impossible not to have it in the top ten regardless of if you support the team or not.

6. Philadelphia Phillies

Favorite Jersey: Home Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Home White

The Phillies jerseys have stayed the same with the transition to Nike, and that is perfectly fine. The jersey lineup as a whole is great with the best being the home alternate being the best of the bunch. The classic Phillies logo on a slightly off white jersey with no pinsptripes is a great look and honestly should just be their full time home uniform. With that being said the current full time home uniforms are good but nothing special. I’m not a huge fan of the pinstripes with the Phillies logo and number font and just think it looks better on a plain style jersey. That is a pretty small issue, but overall it’s a great lineup of jerseys and easily one of my favorite looks in the league.

5. Atlanta Braves

Favorite Jersey: Red Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Navy Alternate

The Braves take the first spot in the top five with their excellent lineup of jerseys. They have a variety of looks to choose from, but the best one has to be their home red alternate. I love the way the red jersey makes the navy blue Braves logo really stand out, it’s just a great all around jersey. The road alternate, doesn’t quite evoke the same feelings from me. I’m really just not a huge fan of navy jerseys as a whole, and this doesn’t change with the Braves. It’s not a bad jersey, but it’s just my least favorite of their lineup. For whatever reason I don’t really like the red coming off the navy, even though I absolutely love the inverse. Overall it’s a great lineup of jerseys and similar to the rest of my top ten there isn’t a bad jersey in the lineup.

4. Baltimore Orioles

Favorite Jersey: Home White; Least Favorite Jersey: Black Alternate

Baltimore is the first team on my list that did an updated take on a throwback jersey lineup. A few years back when Baltimore went back to the cartoon Oriole logo, their jersey’s shot up on my list. I absolutely love the home white jerseys, the orange pops off the white and looks awesome. The black hat with the white front panel and orange brim is fantastic. Same thing goes for the road gray look and the orange home alternate, but the black alternate just doesn’t look that good. In a vacuum it’s fine, but it’s the only holdover from the Orioles previous uniform lineup and it looks really out of place among the other jerseys. It doesn’t ruin the lineup for me, but it certainly knocks it down a peg.

3. San Diego Padres

Favorite Jersey: Road Gray; Least Favorite Jersey: Road Alternate

The Padres were another one of the teams that got a completly new set of jerseys, and oh man are they awesome. San Diego, similar to what Baltimore did several years ago in the sense that they are debuting a modernized version of an old uniform style. The Padres are rocking the brown and yellow from now on, officially retiring the boring navy and white color scheme. They’ll feature both home and road pinstripes which are outstanding, particularly the road version. The slightly darker than usual gray coupled with the pinstripes and brown lettering looks great and is easily one of my favorite road jerseys in the league. The Padres are also featuring a road alternate which is an all brown jersey with yellow lettering and I’m not a huge fan of them. There’s a very fine line as to what constitutes too much brown in a jersey and this one crosses that line. It’s not hideous by any means, but it’s not super eye catching either.

2. Toronto Blue Jays

Favorite Jersey: Powder Blue Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Home White

We’re getting right down to it now with my top two MLB jerseys. The Blue Jays debuted their current lineup in 2012 going with a modern take on their 1990’s era jerseys and they’re flat out superb. The split letter font they use is my favorite on any jersey in any sport and the fact they brought it back is awesome. Their “New Blue” alternate for 2020 is one of my favorite looks in the league, combining navy and powder blue which is honestly impossible to mess up. Their home whites are a little boring for my taste, especially when compared to the royal blue alternate which is just a better look and should honestly just be their home jersey. Overall it’s a fantastic lineup with very little flaws.

1. Oakland Athletics

Favorite Jersey: Kelly Green Alternate; Least Favorite Jersey: Dark Green Alternate

At number one on the list we have the Oakland A’s. The green and yellow color scheme is incredible and they truly don’t have a bad jersey. The kelly green alternate is one of if not the single best looking jersey in all of sports, and the rest of their lineup holds up just as well. If I had to choose a least favorite it would be the dark green alternate, but even then it still looks great. I sincerely hope Nike leaves the A’s uniforms alone because there isn’t anything about them that needs to be changed.