Almost.Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies / Mitchell Leff/GettyImages

There has been a lot of discourse around the MLB’s uniforms this season. With Fanatics taking the reigns as the league’s primary distributor, there has been a conspicuous drop in quality — not only for customers at home, but for the players on the field.

From see-through pants to completely horrid design choices (we can probably blame Nike for that bit), the league hasn’t been able to avoid fan ridicule. Baseball is a sport, but the MLB is a business. Merch is an essential aspect of that business, and not providing your fans (or players) with decent jerseys to purchase is malpractice.

It all feels like a callous cash-grab from the MLB higher-ups.

Few uniform decisions have received more universal condemnation than the Philadelphia Phillies’ new City Connect threads. Donned in every Friday home game, the uniforms feature a, uh, distinct color palette. Light blue and yellow, which we all know is not anywhere close to Philadelphia’s normal color scheme.

There have been a few creative, truly wonderful outside-the-box City Connect jerseys over the years — lookin’ at you, San Diego — but these Phillies threads ain’t it. I am personally not as aggrieved by them as others, but it doesn’t look like the sort of uniform you’d expect in a professional baseball league. That is the sort of look the wealthy rec softball team at a giant tech corp in Silicon Valley commissions, ya know? Strong Cybertruck-in-jersey-form vibes.

It certainly does not “embody the city,” other than incorporating the colors on the Philadelphia flag. As we know, Philadelphians care deeply about their flag colors (read: with sarcasm).

This all could have been avoided with a different design. Or, better yet, a different color scheme. The basic outline of the jersey is mildly appealing. Why not, I don’t know, make it red. A new series of photos from Uniwatch shows us what could have been.

Red City Connect jersey should what could have been for Phillies

It’s not immediately clear how “real” these red City Connect threads are, but most signs point to them being fake. Primarily the fact that this is just not a real uniform currently used by the Phillies. A most optimistic conspiracy theorist might dub this an “early prototype,” but in reality, it’s just a good idea from a bootleg manufacturer that the Phils should steal for next season.

That uniform looks immensely better than the blue-yellow abominations currently on display every other Friday. Even as a more neutral observer of the blue-yellows — I wouldn’t use the word abomination, but every other Phillies fan would — the difference in aesthetic quality is night and day. When the fake jerseys start looking better than the real ones, you know there’s a problem.

Odds are, we never get to see these red unis in game action, which is a bummer. So much of the beauty in life can be stymied by greedy corporations. Fanatics, this is your chance to right wrongs and bring happiness to a fandom in need.

Until then, Philly fans can take solace in their utter dominance of a weak National League.