Cubs hint they're ready to put greed over tradition with impending uniform change

Hopefully with Cactus and Grapefruit League games getting started later this week, we can stop talking about the new Nike / Fanatics jerseys and focus on baseball. But, with a few days left before the Cubs open up their spring schedule, I'm here to bring you more jersey-related new that will probably irk fans more than everything we've seen with the new threads to this point.

If you look closely at the Cubs' photo day images that are making their rounds on social media, you'll notice the team's traditional sleeve patch - which has historically adorned the left sleeve - bounces back and forth from left to right, depending on the player. Why? Because it leaves the front-facing (and, thus, camera-facing) sleeve open, likely for the addition of a corporate sponsor sleeve patch at some point this season.

Cubs jerseys getting a handful of tweaks, updates heading into 2024

Paul Lukas over at UniWatch broke down the change, along with an update to that walking bear sleeve patch - and it's definitely worth a read. It's been a spring of change, really, when it comes to uniforms. The Photo Day images also confirm something we talked about earlier this month: the trademark logo that's been on the team's chest patch on their home whites is, indeed, a thing of the past, as well.

To be fair, it hasn't been all bad news when it comes to the Cubs' 2024 on-field looks. This year's spring training hats are nothing short of perfection and the BP caps aren't bad, either. This jersey sponsor news coming on the heels of some payroll comments from Tom Ricketts that were less than well-received isn't great timing, but, hey - if these dollars provide that additional revenue he referenced needing to boost payroll, maybe it won't be the end of the world after all.

Thankfully, the Cubs didn't see any of their jerseys axed in Nike's new 4+1 rule, which led to some teams needing to trim down their on-field offerings to four main staples, plus a City Connect. So while they maintain their traditional trio of home whites, road greys and alternate blues heading into 2024, expect to see some tweaks - perhaps none bigger than a corporate sponsor patch.