The Tampa Bay Rays put a dang stingray on a skateboard and that’s pretty sick

The Tampa Bay Rays had a pretty lousy opening month to the 2024 season and will end it below .500. Their struggles can be attributed to a myriad of issues, including starting pitchers like Shane McClanahan and Shane Baz being out, the bullpen being atrocious, and the offense underperforming with 2023 All-Star Randy Arozarena batting well below the Mendoza Line. The biggest indignity came this past weekend when they were swept by the abysmal Chicago White Sox, who literally doubled their season win total in the series.

As a fan, I’ve already mentally chalked this up as sort of a bridge year to 2025, where injured stars should be healthy and top players in their farm system should be on the major league roster full-time. Fans like myself are already anticipating the inevitable call-up of top prospect Junior Caminero, who is absolutely crushing it at Triple-A Durham right now. It’s really the only thing to look forward to at the moment and OH MY GOD DUDE, THE CITY CONNECT UNIFORMS DROPPED. Y’ALL, COME LOOK AT THIS.

IS THAT A NEON PELICAN WITH PALM TREES IN THE BACKGROUND? IS THAT A DANG STINGRAY RIDING A SKATEBOARD?!

I’m obviously biased here, but these instantly shoot up to the elite tier of City Connect uniforms. I had no earthly idea what it would possibly look like when it was announced before the season and they nailed it. There’s plenty of nice touches that incorporates the Tampa-St. Pete area, from the aforementioned skateboard stingray to the cap logo being a combination of a ray and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Even the aforementioned pelican is a reference to the St. Petersburg Pelicans of the Florida State Negro Leagues of the 1940’s. That’s a nice tip of the cap by the organization, although it should continue to be acknowledged that the very existence of Tropicana Field came at the expense of the black Gas Plant District.

It’s an added plus that the franchise continues to lean into the aesthetics of their old Devil Rays uniforms as they already wear the throwbacks for every Friday night home game. I find the current every day unis kind of bland, so I hope they continue to lean in whenever they decide to do another rebrand. My only critique of the City Connects it they could pop even more if it had a lighter base color other than black/gray. But overall, these are pretty sick.

Now if you excuse me, I have a bank account to empty.