Now this is a series I’ve wanted to work on for some time. There isn’t any reason in particular, other than the fact that I love rankings and, more specifically, I love ranking items. To me, it is not subjective; to me, it is correct. Plus Monty has like 4 ongoing series he’s working on for the site, so I think I’m allowed some creative freedom here.

The only real guidelines I’m following for this ranking is that I will only be using each team’s primary logo. That means no matter how cool any alternate logo may be, it does not qualify for this activity. For example, I will be using the curly W for the Washington Nationals, not the Block W (even though the Block W is far superior to the Curly). It is also worth noting that the primary logo for each team isn’t necessarily what each team wears on their hats. The Yankees have the classic NY on their hats, but their “primary” logo is the script ‘Yankees’ inside of the baseball. It’s different for every team. There are also a lot of bad logos in baseball, so I can’t wait to call them out.

LET’S RANK THESE OUT!

30. Colorado Rockies

• Talk about boring. Just like the direction of their franchise, the Rockies had no clue what they were doing with their logo. It’s not even a cool font and doesn’t incorporate any features of that great city of Denver. Disrespectful.

29. Cleveland Guardians

• My vendetta against Cleveland’s logos has been no secret, but I have to give them a bit of a break as they retired their longtime logo and underwent a name change process. That being said… What they came up with sucks as well. Cleveland gonna Cleveland.

28. Cincinnati Reds

• I mean how unoriginal can you be… First of all, your team name is the ‘Reds’… Second of all, your defining feature of your team logo is just ‘Reds’… What a joke.

27. Tampa Bay Rays

• For a team with a cool mascot, you’d think they’d have a better logo. It was also Steve Irwin day recently, so, Rays suck.

26. San Diego Padres

• Same thing here. For a team with such youth and excitement, you’d think they’d have a better logo than just ‘SD’ but I guess not. Although, as my wife likes to joke, they are literally called the “San Diego Fathers.”

25. San Francisco Giants

• Same problem I have with the Reds – you can’t just put your team name over a baseball and call it a logo. Doesn’t count.

24. Atlanta Braves

• Racist. Please forfeit most recent World Series title.

23. Pittsburgh Pirates

• So much potential. I don’t mind the classic look for the hats in uniforms, but let’s at least spice up the primary logo like a few other teams have done around the league. 

22. Chicago White Sox

• This logo and Detroit’s logo fall under the same category as Pittsburgh where I respect it, but think they could do more. Cool font, but not representative of the team or city at all.

21. Detroit Tigers

• The first thing people think of when they think Detroit is Ye Old English font, right???

20. Minnesota Twins

• The Twins start this streak of logos I admittedly like, but when half the teams in the league have similar logos, it starts to get stale and played out. Twins come in last for these logos cause I hate when teams try to rebrand themselves as “clubs” and think they’re doing something.

19. Oakland Athletics

• Love the A’s uniforms and colors, but putting “A’s” as your logo is just boring.

18. Philadelphia Phillies

• Don’t mind it, but putting “Phillies” in front of the liberty bell and calling it a day just seems lazy.

17. Texas Rangers

• Also not bad, and the juxtaposition between blue and red makes the logo pop, but the ‘T’ being the defining feature in the middle loses me.

16. Houston Astros

• This was my high school baseball logo even before the Astros brought it back, so I’ve seen this logo enough for this lifetime. Middle of the pack.

15. Washington Nationals

• I always give the Nats a hard time for their logo and even their uniforms, but compared to the rest of the MLB, their logo isn’t that bad. The Curly W is low hanging fruit for other teams, but at least it’s different. That being said, it is mediocre, which is what the Nats project to be as a team for the foreseeable future.

14. New York Mets

• Struggle ranking the Mets this high, but there was at least effort put into this logo with the skyline in the background and incorporating a few different elements. Plus that organization is a dumpster fire so I can afford to throw them a bone here.

13. Los Angeles Dodgers

• Not really sure what they were going for here, but it is different. Plus I just love the ‘Dodgers’ script so much that I give it a pass.

12. Arizona Diamondbacks

• For a team that has a legitimate identity crisis every 3 to 5 years and changes their logo and uniforms, they have had some good renditions over the years. I like the actual diamondback portion of the ‘A’ plus the snake fangs/tongue crossing the ‘A’ as well.

11. Chicago Cubs

• This is a logo that I should clown, but it is almost grandfathered in, so I respect it. Somehow it just makes sense. That is the Cubs logo.

10. St. Louis Cardinals

• Bird.

9. Los Angeles Angels

• Didn’t expect to have the Angels this highly ranked, but I like it. It keeps it simplistic but also unique by adding the halo. Plus they have a giant tower with this logo outside of their stadium.

8. Kansas City Royals

• While it seems overly simple, the logo is actually just a banner like a royal family would have. I think it’s clever and gets overlooked, especially with the crown on top. Not sure a royal family would ever reside in “Kansas City” though…

7. Miami Marlins

• I have a soft spot for the Marlins, and man am I glad they got away from that horrible orange. The Miami Vice theme plus a bad-ass Marlin is enough for me to give them top 10 status.

6. Boston Red Sox

• A classic. Simple but unique in that they didn’t try to just do a different font and call it a day.

5. Baltimore Orioles

• Have always loved the oriole bird. Plus their tri-color hats with this logo are one of my favorites in the league by far.

4. Seattle Mariners

• I absolutely love this logo. The compass in the middle in combination with the matching thin font just is so well done. Unlike everything else with that franchise in the past 20+ years.

3. New York Yankees  

• Classic logo again. Just fits that classic New York vibe.

2. Milwaukee Brewers

• This normally would be my favorite, because the ingenuity to morph the ‘M’ and the ‘B’ to create a baseball glove deserves the highest of praise, but unfortunately there is another…

1. Toronto Blue Jays

• This logo is just so sharp that it has to be number 1. Again, they didn’t just choose to use a ‘T’ in a different font and call it a day. They included their cool mascot and also identifying feature to their city (and in this case, their country) while creating a juxtaposition to make their logo pop. Well done.