KC Royals Opening Day uniforms show MLB stealing joy from fans

Once I noticed it, it stuck out like a sore thumb. No, not catcher Salvador Perez swinging at multiple pitches out of the zone or the pitcher-friendly calls on Opening Day. The KC Royals uniforms looked different. This time, it was in the wrong way. The Royals looked like every other team on Opening Day.

One of the few unexpected Royals-related headlines from this past spring was their large jersey lettering amidst other teams' diminutive versions. It sounds like a small detail, but as Uni Watch's Paul Lukas pointed out, it was a stark difference side-by-side.

Baseball is still dealing with uniform issues after Opening Day, but fans praised Kansas City for keeping that small detail. Sadly that lettering did not make it to Opening Day. Despite MLB working with the Royals during spring training, that ended once meaningful games began.

Kansas City Star's Pete Grathoff reported Thursday ($) that MLB made that decision, not the Royals. The Royals' lettering needed to match the other 29 clubs, so they all look equally bad now. It is very disappointing that Kansas City lost this battle, albeit over a detail not affecting the game's outcome.

The new MLB uniform problems are affecting every clubhouse, some more than others. Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, whose company is manufacturing the uniforms, said that Fanatics is "doing exactly as we’ve been told, and we’ve been told we’re doing everything exactly right." But the rightful backlash is making Fanatics and Nike, the designing company, look worse and worse each game.

Whether it be the excessive sweat stains in New York, mismatched colors for the Angels, or see-through white pants, MLB needs to fix the issue and fast. All the stakeholders said they would work on fits and address the issue ahead of Opening Day, but that date has come and gone. All that I know though is casual fans will need some eagle eyes to tell who is who in Kauffman Stadium.

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