The Tampa Bay Rays will be celebrating their 25th anniversary next season in 2023, and thanks to a trademark filing, we’ve got an early look at the logo.
By way of elements from their various logos, the design shows the two distinct eras of Major League Baseball in Tampa Bay, the finish last place almost every season Devil Rays (1998-2007) and the perennial contender, two-time pennant-winning Rays (2008-present).
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The original ray and oval shape of the logo come from the original Tampa Bay Devil Rays logo used from 1998-2000, the ray was used again on the updated 2000-07 version of the Devil Rays logo. To the right is the sun glint that first appeared with the team’s name change to Rays in 2008 and has remained on the club’s logos and uniforms in the 14 years since.
This will be the fourth logo the Devil Rays / Rays franchise has used to celebrate a milestone season following patches worn for their inaugural season in 1998, their tenth season in 2007, and their twentieth anniversary season in 2018.
Keep in mind, the Rays have yet to officially unveil this logo, as far as I can tell. It’s possible they change their mind and do something else. There’s also no indication on what their plans are for using this logo, in the sense of whether it will be worn on their on-field jerseys or not — remember, MLB teams can (and will) wear advertisers patches on their jersey sleeves starting with the 2023 season which I imagine would significantly impact the frequency of commemorative team patches we see going forward.
A significant hat tip to Tampa Bay Times’ Digital Audience Manager (and @sportslogosnet Twitter follower!) Paul Driscoll who, as far as I can tell, found the listing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and whose Tweet about it was how we found out about it. Thanks Paul!
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