Dodgers, Dbacks Set to Open 2014 in Australia

Major League Baseball this afternoon announced that the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks will open the 2014 MLB season with two games in Sydney, Australia. And these aren’t just your boring old exhibition games but “genuine competition fixtures”, as the official MLB Sydney 2014 site describes them so brilliantly.

We have a logo already unveiled, featuring the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge with a baseball flying overhead. The cap logos for both the Dodgers and Diamondbacks below.

MLB 2014 Australia — The logo for MLB’s 2014 Opening Series in Australia

While these overseas games are great for growing the game internationally — especially at a time when baseball is no longer in the Olympics due to it’s lack of global involvement — they can be a bit of an annoyance for the traditional uniform fan out there.

Why?

The last three times Major League Baseball has opened their season outside of the U.S. or Canada teams wore sponsor patches on both their jerseys and helmets.

Ick.

There’s no word yet on if Arizona and Los Angeles will follow suit with these patches, we’re hoping this was some sort of Japan-only anomaly. Below, a photographic look back at what teams wore, patch-wise, when opening the season overseas:

2012 Japan – Oakland Athletics vs. Seattle Mariners

Oakland Seattle Japan 2012 — The A’s and Mariners wore sponsor logos on their jerseys for their games in Japan in 2012

Both teams wore sponsor logos on their jersey sleeves, the Mariners wore the logo of Boeing Airliners while the Athletics wore gloops – an online social network. Both sponsor logos had the “Japan 2012” wordmark below them with the MLB logo.

Mariners Cap Patch 2012 Japan — Opening Series Japan 2012 patch on the caps of both teams as well

The two teams also wore a 2012 Opening Series Japan patch on the sides of their caps. No sponsor logos there, other than MLB I guess.

2008 Japan – Boston Red Sox vs Oakland Athletics

As Red Sox Japan 2008 — Oakland wore Pepsi patches on their jerseys, both teams had Ricoh logos on their helmets

Yes, Oakland went over to Japan two series’ in a row, and both times they put a sponsor logo on their jersey. In 2008 it was Pepsi who got to grace the A’s jerseys while the super traditional Boston Red Sox couldn’t escape ads on their uniforms wearing the logo of EMC, a data storage company.

Boston Red Sox Patch Japan 2008 — In 2008 the Boston Red Sox wore EMC Corporation patches on their jerseys for games in Japan

Both clubs also had a Ricoh logo on their batting helmets.

2004 Japan – New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Devil Rays

New York Yankees 2004 Japan Ricoh Patch — The New York Yankees wearing pinstripes for a road game with a sponsor patch (sacrilege!) and a Japan 2004 patch on their caps

This one surprised me the most when it happened, not only did the New York Yankees, of all teams, take to the field wearing a giant Ricoh patch on their jerseys, they also got permission to wear their home pinstripes for two road games. The feeling being that the fans of Japan wanted to see the pinstripes in action while the Yankees were unwilling to give up a home date to make it happen properly.

Devil Rays Yankees Japan 2004 — The Devil Rays in their BP jerseys with grey pants for a home game, Ricoh sponsor patches on sleeve and side of helmet for both teams

What we got were the Yankees wearing pinstripes on the road and the Devil Rays wearing their BP uniforms with grey pants for their home opener.

Both teams also wore the 2004 Opening Series logo on their caps.

2001 Puerto Rico – Texas Rangers vs Toronto Blue Jays

Blue Jays Rangers Puerto Rico 2001 — Team/league patches, not sponsors, on both jerseys — caps had the event logo on the sides for both teams

While both teams wore a special event patch on the sides of their caps, as seen above, neither team wore a sponsors logo on their jerseys (bringing hope to the “it’s a Japan thing” theory). The two teams already had patches on their sleeves already though (AL 100th anniversary on both, Jays 25th anniversary, and Rangers flag of Texas alt logo), so… it’s hard to say if they would’ve explored sponsorship if this weren’t the case. I’d have to think Major League Baseball wouldn’t let a little thing like a team patch get in the way of extra revenue.

2000 Japan – Chicago Cubs vs New York Mets

Mets Cubs Japan 2000 — The Mets and Cubs wear insurance company patches for their games in Japan to kick off the year 2000

Back to Japan, back to sponsor patches. These were the first regular season games to take place on another continent and to celebrate both the Cubs and Mets wore logos for AIU, a Japanese insurance company. As far as I can tell (and please correct me if I’m wrong), this is the first time a Major League team wore an advertisement on their uniforms for a regular season game.

Both teams also wore the event logo on their caps, unfortunately I could not find a photo of this.

1999 Mexico – Colorado Rockies vs San Diego Padres

Were there any photographers at this game? I can’t find any photos. So I have no idea what was worn. Sorry folks. Blame the 20th century’s lack of readily available information.

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We’ll keep our ears to the floor about whether the Dodgers and/or Diamondbacks will follow suit and go with a corporate logo on their uniforms for 2014 and let you know the second we find out.

Do you care if a team does this? Is it okay for a game or two here-and-there? Let us know in the comments!