Sports Daily: Baseball’s down bad

Hi, all, it’s AJ Willingham in for Tyler again. It’s his birthday, so wish him a good one. He looks great for an ageless swamp creature.

Today I’m going to test the bounds of what they’ll let me publish here, because something’s been on my mind and needs to be addressed. I think baseball is in danger of going too far.

BASEBALL MERCH NEEDS A COLD SHOWER

Credit: Morehead City Marlins

Credit: Morehead City Marlins

I said it. It’s feral. Unhinged. In desperate need of an ice bath. Consider the evidence:

It also produced the “AsHos,” the “AnAels” and everyone’s favorite AL West team, “TeTas,” which is Spanish for Go Look It Up.

🦪 Point of order: In both of these brand “mishaps,” there is no way every single person in the decision-making process was clueless. It’s statistically impossible. Am I wrong? I don’t want to be wrong.

By the same count, as a Maryland native, I would pay $500 for an anatomically suspect Oyster Catchers hat just to say I had one. I’m not alone. An A’s cap released and quickly scrapped by New Era in 2024 clearly read “A’ss.” It became an instant collector’s item and pieces sold on eBay for hundreds of dollars.

Whether intentional or not, these silly brand SNAFUs work. I still can’t look at the New Era overlap “Mmmi” logo and not tear up with laughter. It’s genius. If I were a Rangers fan, I’d keep my TeTas hat in a safe.

C’mon, man. Is this who we are?

IT STARTED SO INNOCENTLY

Credit: Daniel Varnado/AJC

Credit: Daniel Varnado/AJC

For the last decade or so, minor league, independent and collegiate baseball teams have found a winning formula in creative, sometimes unhinged rebrands.

🌮 The Fresno Grizzlies, then the Houston Astros AAA affiliate, started the trend in 2015 when they became the Fresno Tacos.

🎠 Then came the El Paso Chihuahuas and, heaven forbid, Tim Tebow’s own Binghamton Rumble Ponies. (A shortlisted name for that rebrand, if you’ll recall, was the Lumber Jockeys.) The list goes on.

🍌 The idea trickled down the farm team ladder, over to the collegiate leagues and beyond. Georgia’s own Savannah Bananas are a shining example of this strategy, named in a 2016 contest to replace the city’s departing Savannah Sand Gnats.

Cool names and logos are still a proven way to keep things fresh and move merch. The Rome Braves rebranded to the Rome Emperors in 2024 (penguins, adorable). As we speak, Detroit Tigers AA affiliate the Erie SeaWolves await a rebrand from comedian John Oliver, of all people. Let your imaginations run wild.

The recent rash of barely publishable baseball rebrands and oopsie-daisies feels like an extension of this trend, dragged past the point of absurdity. Of course an “AnAels” hat goes viral. Of course a summer ball club gets press for calling themselves the Booty Divers. Do I have their T-shirt? It’s none of your business. I’m just wondering where it ends.

Postscript: Upon further research, the Morehead City Marlins also have alternate identities as the Fish Tacos and the Motorboaters. Y’all OK over there?

ANYWAY, BIG CFB NEWS

The College Football Playoff structure will be tweaked a little for 2025, which will surely satisfy everyone and we won’t have anything to complain about.

Instead of the top four conference champions becoming the top four playoff seeds automatically, the seeding will be based on final rankings following conference championship games. What a concept.

Last year’s format dropped Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State in favor of higher-rated conference champions Boise State and Arizona State. All four top seeds, including UGA, lost their first playoff games.

🏈 READ MORE: Other fiddly changes and where the $8 million payouts go

A SANFORD JAM

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks wants to host a concert at Sanford Stadium and says his dream band for the event would be Athens’ own R.E.M.

If we’re going local, I’d pick Widespread Panic. Or, we could get 90-year-old Bobby Bare out there to sing his classic, “Dropkick Me Jesus (Through the Goalposts of Life).”

Who should play Sanford Stadium? Wrong answers only.

DISPATCHES FROM DREAM LAND

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Tyler may be off, but he’s never far. He took his daughter to the Atlanta Dream game last night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and was kind enough to check in. His highlights: The game was sold out. Mayor Andre Dickens was there. So was 2Chainz, joined as usual by his son. We love basketball dads.

The Dream dropped their home opener against the Indiana Fever, but put on an impressive performance shutting down powerhouse Caitlin Clark.

Coach Karl Smesko noted all three of the Dream’s games have come down to the last minute. They’ll be looking to improve in these close 11th hour situations.

MORE THINGS TO KNOW

⚾ Ronald Acuña Jr. will return to the Braves lineup for today’s series opener against the Padres. The star outfielder has been out since tearing his left ACL on May 26, 2024, and rejoins a team trying to find consistency, especially offensively. An injection of his energy should be helpful, too.

🎓 John Abraham, the Falcons’ last great pass rusher, retired after the 2014 season and advanced to the top 50 in the Pro Football Hall of Fame voting for the Class of 2025. He is now also a college graduate — and an advocate for mental health awareness. Snaps to John.

⚾ Georgia Tech’s baseball team is one win from playing for a conference tournament title— what would be its first since 2014. The Yellow Jackets (40-16) face Clemson in the ACC tournament semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, North Carolina. They need to win that one to move on to Sunday’s title game against Florida State, Duke, North Carolina or Boston College.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Credit: AJC

Credit: AJC

Atlanta Dream star Rhyne Howard shows off a custom uATL grill crafted by Grillz by Scotty. Cold. See how it came together.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Thanks for reading to the very bottom of Sports Daily. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at AJ.Willingham@ajc.com.

Until next time.