Although it was a historic offseason for the Los Angeles Dodgers, much of the talk has still been centered around the team’s uniforms.
With Fanatics taking over the jersey manufacturing process and Nike just leasing out their logo, the new uniforms have been a controversy across MLB with players and fans speaking out.
That was also part of a jersey template change that moves where the logo breaks on the front of the jersey, decreases the size of numbers and letters, and changes the material of the numbers and letters to no longer make them reflective.
Despite the majority being against the changes, some players, including Jason Heyward, have also spoken out in support of them. However, all have been Nike-sponsored athletes or have some connection to the company.
In addition to the changes of the actual jersey, the Dodgers are also the latest team to place an advertisement patch on the sleeve.
The jerseys will feature a Guggenheim patch on the sleeve for at least the 2024 season, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic:
The Dodgers will have a Guggenheim jersey patch this season, as Dave Roberts models.
Guggenheim certainly hasn’t been subtle with the signage in the post-Ohtani signing. pic.twitter.com/9Ezzy3vixd
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) February 14, 2024
This is what the patch looks like on the home whites: https://t.co/Qzw6yRBmoW pic.twitter.com/CHL2WBB8zG
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) February 14, 2024
Back at it. #DodgersST pic.twitter.com/UqH60s7Dgq
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) February 14, 2024
The Guggenheim Partners are of course the group that owns the Dodgers, which runs under the name of Guggenheim Baseball Management.
Led by controlling partner Mark Walter and a group of investors including Peter Guber, Todd Boehly, Bobby Patton, Alan Smolinisky, Robert L. Plummer, Billie Jean King, Ilana Kloss, Stan Kasten and Magic Johnson, Guggenheim has owned the Dodgers since March 2012.
After spending $1.2 billion this offseason on player contract commitments, Guggenheim is looking to grow their brand even more.
Guggenheim, a global investment and advisory firm, has offices in Japan, and after signing Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto this offseason, they have locked up the Japanese baseball market for the foreseeable future.
While it’s not ideal adding an advertisement to the jersey, that’s been how things have trended for a while.
Many clubs have already adopted jersey patches, but at least for the Dodgers, Guggenheim has a connection to the team and will utilizes the same colors as the jersey.
Which side will the Dodgers Guggenheim jersey patch be on?
So far in Spring Training, some of the uniforms have had the patch on the right sleeve, including Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Freddie Freeman, while others have had it on the left sleeve.
The Dodgers have traditionally had the interlocking L.A. logo on their left sleeve, so it would seem the jersey patch is going to be on the right sleeve, which has been empty.
It’s unclear if players have the option to pick the sleeve side, or if it was a manufacturing mistake by Fanatics, but the likely scenario is the uniforms will be consistent with all players in the season.
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