Major League Baseball rolled out the second wave of its City Connect uniforms on Thursday, giving eight teams new looks that will reach the field in 2026. The Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers all unveiled their city connect jerseys 2026 on the same day.
For Ronald Acuña Jr., the first look came in baby blue with an old-school Atlanta script across the chest. The Braves three-time All-Star was among a select group of players who got a sneak peek in early February, and he did not hide his reaction: “We’re going to win a lot of games in these.”
MLB launched the City Connect program in 2021, starting with a yellow Boston Red Sox uniform, and the league has since treated it as more than a one-off uniform experiment. Deputy commissioner Noah Garden said the program is central to the sport’s push to connect with younger fans, saying baseball has “the most young players breaking through in our game at the same time than we’ve ever had in our history,” while also stressing that players are into fashion, culture and their teams. Nike’s Ryan Airhart said, “It really is a cultural expression.”
The early reactions fit a program that has been polarizing at times, but that has also given teams a way to show city and regional identity in a format built for attention. Padres star Jackson Merrill said he feels like a different player when he wears the uniforms, and Reds ace Hunter Greene said baseball should keep pushing the boundaries of fashion. That is the balance MLB and Nike are chasing: something rooted in team history, but built to look forward.
The next test comes when the new uniforms move from the reveal stage to the field, where the reaction will matter less than the results. If the designs can help the sport hold the interest of younger fans and its newest players, MLB will see the rollout as proof that the program is doing exactly what it was built to do.
