Nike, Fanatics Jerseys Hit Another Snag as MLB Player’s Pants Rip

Major League Baseball jerseys have been in the headlines way more than the league would have liked this season — and for all the wrong reasons.

Going back to spring training, the jerseys made headlines for their see-through fabric and small lettering for the last names on the back. One MLB player called them “not big-league jerseys,” while another called them a “downgrade” from the previous uniforms the league has used.

Two weeks into the season, things haven’t exactly gotten better.

On Tuesday, in the Detroit Tigers’ 5-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, the uniforms hit a new low.

In the top of the ninth inning, Tigers outfielder Riley Greene scored on a single from Gio Urshela, and slid into home to tie the game at three apiece. However, his slide was seemingly a bit too rough for the pants, as they ripped on impact. Here’s a video of the play, via Barstool Sports on X:

Here’s what his pants looked like after the play when Greene got back to the dugout, via Baseball Quotes on X:

Fortunately, Greene seemed to be wearing some sort of compression pants under his jersey pants, or he could have been in for quite an embarrassing and potentially painful moment. Instead, the embarrassment fell on the jerseys yet again.

It’s one thing for the uniforms to not be visually pleasing, but it’s another thing if they’re ripping on the field.

This is far from the only issue, though.

Just last week, the Texas Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers were supposed to wear their City Connect uniforms on Friday night as part of their weekly tradition. However, Fanatics didn’t have them delivered in time, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, so they weren’t able to wear them.

According to The Athletic, similar issues occurred around the league, too. The Minnesota Twins are missing their cream-colored pants for their “Twin Cities” uniforms, while the Seattle Mariners don’t have their cream-colored uniforms, either. Additionally, the St. Louis Cardinals don’t have either of their Saturday alternate uniforms, so they were all forced to wear other uniform combinations this past week.

While this issue is unlikely to go away anytime soon, the most important thing is Major League Baseball making sure these uniforms are durable enough to last through an entire game, through slides and all. Hopefully Greene is the first and last player to accidentally rip through a jersey this season.