First, the context: in 2021, Nike and MLB partnered to create City Connect uniforms, which exist partly to celebrate the place where MLB teams play and mostly to line the league’s pockets with merchandise guaranteed to be updated every year. The Rangers are one of six MLB teams to get in on the action for the first time this season, and, well, you cannot accuse of them of playing it safe in their first go-around:
So … yeah.
Cards on the table, I have no idea what is going on here. I mean, I do, by way of this handy explainer from the team (kindly ignore the mention of “Metroplex”):
But holy hell, there’s a lot happening. I’d recommend reading this piece from MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry for the full rundown because there are a couple of cool homages here, none better than those to the now-defunct Dallas Eagles (who played in the Texas League from 1949 to 1957) and DFW Spurs (who played in the Texas League from 1965 to 1971).
The issue: seven easter eggs is a handful too many. Or, put another way, when you invent something called a “peagle,” you maybe, probably, definitely overthought things a tad.
Another issue: are these “for the Metroplex,” as the team’s Twitter account proclaims (again, mentally blot out the Metroplex part), or they “for all of Texas,” as MLB.com’s account insists? Two different social media voices doth not define a brand, of course, but the situation is convenient shorthand for the overarching issue. The uniforms try to do so much that no one thing shines through aside from an aesthetic suggesting the Rice Owls requested a glow-up from the makers of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Which, I gather, is probably not what the Rangers are going for.
Nevertheless, the uniforms are here, and you can expect to see them most Friday nights this season, beginning on the 21st—and, yes, there’s a tie-in for that, too. Three of them, in fact. Sounds about right.
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