The Detroit Tigers are coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees and have now fallen to fourth place in the American League Central with a huge series against the Cleveland Guardians beginning tonight.
So the long-awaited unveiling of their City Connect uniforms could provide a much-needed spark. The team finally allowed the general public to get a gander at them this morning and it seems as though the designer was tasked with the question: what if the Detroit Lions but baseball?
Occasional rapper and full-time Motor City sports ambassador Eminem has delivered his stamp of approval and he's certainly not wrong as these new threads go pretty hard.
The Tigers will wear the City Connects this weekend with the Houston Astros in town.
Here are all the details a person could ever want to know, via the Detroit News:
The uniforms feature multiple shades of blue, with an all-caps "MOTOR CITY" across the front of the jerseys. In what the ballclub is referring to as electric blue, there are tire tracks running down the entire front of the jersey. There also are electric-blue racing stripes on the sleeves, and down the length of the pants. On one of the sleeves, there is a tribute to the famous Woodward Avenue street sign, a diamond with a No. 1 in the middle. The No. 1 is flanked by 3's on both sides, in a reflective, silverish shade, making for a 3-1-3. In the Woodward Avenue diamond, there's a small Olde English D on top, the only Olde English D visible on Detroit's City Connect uniforms.
The caps and batting helmets are navy blue, with an all-caps "DETROIT" across the front, and then a VIN number on the side. The VIN number is 190135456884, a tip of the cap to the team's founding in 1901, and its fourth world championships, in 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984. The VIN number also appears on the back collar of the jersey.
They kind of nailed it. If Major League Baseball rules allow they should also have the players carry around a grease rag in their back pocket to amp up the working-class cosplay to unprecedented levels.
