The Miami Marlins Throwback Unis Are Perfect
Now if only they could return to this look full-time.
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The Miami Marlins never should have gone away from the teal. It was an iconic look when it burst onto the scene in 1993 until its demise in 2012. The Florida Marlins won their two World Series in 1997 and 2003, wearing the “Marlins blue”. That was the best era of Fish Baseball, and it’s a look that never should have vanished, even after the rebrand and stadium move. I have always been a big proponent of sticking with uniform combinations most associated with winning – it’s why I’d like to see Tennessee bring back the black outlines on their road whites with Adidas back on board with the Vols. Everyone loves Tampa Bay’s creamsicle uniforms, but the team was awful during that era of Buccaneers football, and they won their two titles with their current color combination. I’d stick with it. It’s been well over a decade now since Miami wore the correct color combination, but on Sundays this season, that’ll change.
The Marlins nailed their throwback look for this season. Those teal jerseys paired with the pinstripe pants and the old-school Florida cap all work. You know a uniform change is a hit when the overwhelming responses online from fans of the team and baseball alike note that these should be the team’s primary unis. Sure, the Marlins have worn dreadful unis for a long time now, but this is a step in the right direction. Perhaps this is the first step towards a larger rebrand back to that iconic color of yesteryear. As Miami continues its slow-and-steady climb towards contending in the NL East, it would be splendid if its rise coincided with that slow-and-steady change to the club’s uniforms.
We shall see.
Something else popped in my head as I was reading about the Marlins’ new throwback uniforms this morning – MLB is in a fantastic place in the uniform department, advertisement patches excluded, of course. Sure, the nameplate disaster in 2024 was a tough scene, but when you exclude the mostly awful alternate uniforms most teams wear a few times a year, there aren’t many franchises left that need a uniform overhaul. The Toronto Blue Jays fixed their mistakes years ago. Same with the Houston Astros. The San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers have arguably never looked better. Most teams’ default uniforms are in a great place in 2026.
Funny enough, it’s another Florida professional baseball team that first comes to mind that should follow Miami’s lead – the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays’ look reminds me a lot of the Columbus Blue Jackets, not hideous, but an easy-to-forget scheme and look. Tampa’s look feels aggressively boring. With new ownership coming in and perhaps a new stadium soon after, it would be nice to see the Rays spice things up. Maybe it starts with moving away from the sun rays and back towards the devil rays, but the Rays’ best run as a franchise is with their current look. It’s a conundrum for me.
The Atlanta Braves’ uniforms are mostly perfect. The home unis, the Friday night unis, the City Connect unis, even the road blue unis all look great. (I’m pretty certain I have my navy Jordan Schafer shirsey around here somewhere.) My gripe has been my only gripe about Atlanta’s look for years and years and years, outside of bringing back the home cream unis for a game a week, and it’s the solid blue hat with the road greys. It’s such a nit-picking deal, but the cap with the red bill should be worn with the road greys – always. It completes the look with the red Atlanta script across the jersey. It’s what the Braves wore during their best run in franchise history. It’s the easiest adjustment a team could make in baseball, and one I would very much like to see changed.
Only one other franchise comes to mind when I think of teams that could use some uniform help in 2026 – the Arizona Diamondbacks. I go back and forth on Zona’s look. I love the addition of that tiny teal outline on their uniforms that makes you think about those early 2000s home unis just a tad. The current Arizona road and home alternate uniforms are much better than what those Arizona teams twenty-plus years ago were wearing. The problem is none of the current unis come close to popping like the home pinstripe vest uniforms. It’s just that one look from a mostly terrible set from a long time ago. If there were a way to wear those at home and the other current Arizona uniforms everywhere else, that’d be splendid. However, that is obviously not how things work.
Alas.
Still, MLB is in a great spot with its clubs’ primary uniform sets. You can count the bad ones on one hand, while the NBA and NFL have more bad combinations than I’d like to count. If we can even get the color back full-time and that red bill on those road Atlanta greys, that’d be a fantastic development. (I suppose fixing the New York Mets’ black alternate unis as well.) The Marlins did a great thing by bringing back those throwbacks for Sundays this season. Kudos to Miami for doing the simple, but smart, thing that so many baseball fans have longed to see.