Why are the Red Sox wearing yellow? Explaining Boston’s MLB City Connect uniforms for 2024

If you’ve turned on a Red Sox game and been confused by seeing Boston wearing yellow, you’re not alone.

Since the club adopted yellow-and-blue jerseys in 2021, many MLB fans and baseball purists have been vexed by the team’s alternate look. The team is named the Red Sox. How can they have any uniform that doesn’t have at least a tinge of red in it?

While the color combination may enrage some, there is a reason the team has adopted it and incorporated it into its jersey rotation. And, no, it isn’t entirely about money.

Here’s what to know about the Red Sox’s yellow tops and what they represent.

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Why are the Red Sox wearing yellow?The Red Sox are wearing yellow-and-blue uniform tops to showcase the team’s City Connect alternate jerseys. Each MLB team has an alternate available to wear throughout the season, and each design pays homage to the city and region in which the team plays.

The Red Sox worked with Nike to design their City Connect jerseys. Ultimately, they decided that the uniforms would be yellow and blue as a tip of the cap to one of the city’s greatest sporting events.

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Red Sox City Connect jerseys, explainedThe Red Sox’s City Connect jerseys pay tribute to the Boston Marathon, the city’s most recognizable annual event. The famous Patriots’ Day road race utilizes yellow and blue as its main colors.

“The City Connect uniform adopts colors that honor the spirit of Patriots’ Day weekend, and features ‘Boston’ in a stencil font across the chest paying tribute to the Boylston Street finish line,” the Red Sox said in a statement before the jerseys debuted in 2021, per MassLive.com.

Red Sox chief marketing officer Adam Grossman said the use of yellow represented the city’s “boldness.”

“We viewed the City Connect collaboration with Nike as an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of a weekend that is uniquely Boston,” he said in the statement. “The departure from our traditional style pays homage to that iconic weekend, and recognizes Boston’s boldness, culture and creativity.”

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What is ‘617’ on the Red Sox jersey?The 617 on the Red Sox’s City Connect jerseys represents the area code for Boston and Fenway Park. The team placed the digits within a racing bib to simulate what Boston Marathon runners wear during the race.

Red Sox yellow jerseys recordThe Red Sox have posted an extremely good record in their yellow alternates. Entering their April 12 tilt with the Angels, they are 27-7 overall in them since the team began wearing them in 2021.

If the Red Sox were to keep winning at that pace over a 162-game season, they would post a record of roughly 128-34.