Nationals, Marlins Both Introduce New Uniforms for 2024 Season
The Washington Nationals and Miami Marlins are each set to debut some new-look uniforms during the 2024 MLB season.
The National League East is going to look quite a bit different in 2024.
The Philadelphia Phillies have ditched their red alternate tops, and will introduce a City Connect jersey at some point in the coming months. The New York Mets are also slated to get a City Connect jersey in 2024, as they are one of 10 remaining teams without one. Additionally, New York has made some tweaks to their popular black alternate tops.
On top of those two teams, both the Washington Nationals and Miami Marlins introduced new uniforms Friday, to mixed reviews.
The Nationals introduced a new home alternate V-neck jersey, which features the interlocking “DC” logo that was used heavily when the team first relocated from Montreal in 2005. The “Vintage Capitol W” continues to get more exposure, at the expense of the “Curly W.”
What’s more, the Nationals have a new primary road uniform, which appears to be a massive downgrade when compared to its predecessor. Gone is the cursive “Washington” script, led by the Curly W. In is tricolor block “Washington” script that looks straight out of a 1990s movie that didn’t want to pay for the rights to wear the actual uniforms. (Yes, we’re aware the Nationals were the Expos in the 90’s, but the point still stands.)
The worst development in the Nationals mini-rebranding is that their cherry blossom City Connect uniforms apparently aren’t long for the world. MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato reports that the Nationals will continue to wear one of the few popular City Connect uniforms for Friday and Saturday games in 2024, before “retiring them from regular wear after this season.”
Did anyone think the Nationals needed to make drastic uniform changes?
While it does have an unfortunate resemblance to the Walgreens logo, the Curly W has deep ties to Washington’s baseball history. Phasing it out seems to be unnecessary. Ditto for the City Connect uniforms. People liked these looks, take yes for an answer.
Speaking of teams with excellent City Connect uniforms, the Marlins also revealed some uniform updates Friday.
The Marlins have updated their much-maligned “Midnight Black” uniforms so you can actually read the team and player names on them. Gone is the primary black script, replaced with white text. The Marlins also have added in a “Miami Blue” jersey, which Christina DeNicola of MLB.com notes are “inspired by the Spring Training/batting practice tops the team has worn since 2019.”
Whether you like the black uniforms or not, they are clearly an upgrade over what the version the Fish had worn for the past five seasons. We’re not entirely sure what to make of the blue jerseys, but you can at least respect trying something different. If the New York Yankees introduced a jersey this color, it would be a travesty. But it fits Miami.
But the problem with the Marlins is that whatever new uniforms they produce will always fall short of the teal-heavy look the team sported from their inception in 1993 through 2011. Last season, the Fish wore their old Florida Marlins uniforms on Friday home games, celebrating the 30th season in franchise history. The jerseys were extremely popular, and yet, won’t be returning in 2024.
For this look to be worn on a regular basis again, the “F” on the cap would have to be changed to an “M,” because they haven’t been the Florida Marlins since moving into loanDepot Park in 2012. One would think that could be done relatively easily. But for now, it’s not in the cards.
Why teams like the Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks continue to try to reinvent the wheel instead of going back to their extremely popular original color schemes and uniforms is unclear.
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Tim Kelly is a contributor to Just Baseball. Tim has been on the Philadelphia Phillies beat since 2020, serving as the Editorial Director for PhilliesNation.com. Additionally,…