The Seattle Mariners are making a major uniform switch for the 2026 season, as announced by the team at day one of Fan Fest on Saturday afternoon.

As noted by Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, the Mariners are replacing their Sunday alternate cream uniforms with the popular Seattle Steelheads jerseys that were absent in 2024 and 2025. Those Sunday cream uniforms have been around for at least a decade, as seen here in this 2015 walk-off clip from Franklin Gutierrez.

(Josh Naylor modeled the Steelheads jerseys with outgoing M's broadcaster Rick Rizzs on the mic.)

The following comes from an NPR outlet with a history of the Steelheads.

The Seattle Steelheads emerged during baseball's segregated times. The Negro National League was founded in 1920 and included Midwest teams, like Chicago, Detroit, and Kansas City. The Negro American League emerged in the South in the 1930s....

Still, the West Coast didn't have a league of its own until after World War II, when the West Coast Negro League formed. That's when Abe Saperstein took his team, called the Harlem Globetrotters (yes, they're related to the basketball team of the same name), moved them to Seattle, and renamed them the Seattle Steelheads.

The Steelheads played their first game at Sick's Stadium in Seattle on June 1, 1946. They didn't play in 1947.

This is because Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947 and baseball began the process of integration, which greatly hampered the Negro Leagues.

Per a press release:

“We are proud to honor our game’s history and invest in the future of our community with Steelheads Sundays at T-Mobile Park,” said Mariners President of Business Operations Kevin Martinez. “Through the Steelheads Community Fund, we will celebrate the legacy of the Steelheads, while continuing our long-standing effort to advance access to baseball and softball and well-being for underserved communities in our region.”

Major League Baseball has a strict "4+1" uniform policy. As a result, the Mariners have the home white uniforms, the teal uniforms, the navy uniforms, and the Steelheads uniforms, and then they will also debut a new City Connect uniform this year. That will replace the current City Connect royal top and black pants. City Connect uniforms are on a three-year cycle.

Well, the Sunday creams brought back a little nostalgia for longtime Mariners fans who remember the royal blue and gold days of the 1970s through the early 1990s. It was a nice way to blend eras and to pay homage to the original color scheme of the team. By not having that anymore, you're losing that connection.

Unless the new City Connects somehow infuse it.

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