At the end of this month, Major League Baseball will officially commence its 2024 season, and with spring training already in full swing, the chatter among hardcore fans and casual observers has been unusually spirited. In theory, that would be great for MLB as it seeks to expand its reach amid a prolonged decline in the sport’s popularity and cultural cachet that was offset some with a series of popular rule changes last year.
Unfortunately, the conversation has not been about the New York Yankees trading for Juan Soto or the Los Angeles Dodgers signing Shohei Ohtani. Instead, people cannot stop talking about the league’s new uniforms, specifically the pants, which leave little to the imagination. The issue of fabric so sheer it seemed transparent cropped up in late February when players began having their photos taken at spring training, which gave fans — and some players — their first glimpse of MLB’s new uniforms, which were designed by Nike and produced by sports memorabilia behemoth Fanatics.
"Fanatics is going to hell,” a user on X, formerly known as Twitter, said in reference to a particularly explicit photo of a San Diego Padres player bending over on the field.