Rays Unveil MLB City Connect Jerseys in Video, Photos; Uniforms to Debut vs. Mets

The Tampa Bay Rays became the latest team to reveal their City Connect jerseys with a look that will hearken back to their period as the Devil Rays.

The Rays will debut their new look Friday against the New York Mets.

Twenty-three teams currently have City Connect uniforms. Five more will have theirs unveiled later this season, leaving the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics as the only clubs remaining without the unique jerseys.

The Yankees have long been traditionalists regarding how they're presented on the field, while the A's franchise is in flux as the team prepares for a move to Las Vegas.

City Connect uniforms have leaned heavily on blacks and grays, but the Rays' neon lettering makes them stand out in the crowd. The colors are a throwback to the team's initial run as the Devil Rays, which was their name for the franchise's first decade of existence. Tampa shortened the name to the Rays in 2008.

Rays vice president of creative and brand Warren Hypes said the jersey design was meant to honor Tampa's "counterculture scenes," most notably skateboarding.

"Again, going back to the grit it takes to try a trick hundreds of times before you land it and looking at how that has parallels with baseball and all the hard work it takes. All the time in the cage, bullpen sessions, everything else it takes to have your big moment in baseball," he told Anthony Gharib of ESPN.