The best caps for every team in baseball

Baseball teams have so many different caps these days, it’s almost impossible to keep up. There are home caps, road caps, alternate homes, alternate roads, batting practice caps, road batting practice caps… it’s insanity. And if you’re anything like me, you want to own 90% of them.

But which cap is each team’s best look? If you exclude fashion hats and one-off throwbacks, most teams still have a number of choices. They’re broken down into the following categories:

Game: For teams that have one primary cap only. This doesn’t exclude them from having alternate lids, though.

Home and road: Pretty self explanatory, I’d think.

Alternate: Some teams have more than one alternate cap. Some are classified as home and road alternates, and some are classified as “first” or “second” alternates. It just depends on where and how they wear them.

Batting practice: Okay, they’re actually called “Diamond Era” caps now, but it’s much easier to say batting practice. And all teams have started using them in games occasionally, which makes them part of the rotation. Oh, and some teams have more than one.

So which lid is each team’s best? Let’s take a look:

Arizona Diamondbacks: Batting practice A black crown, red bill, and the D-Backs’ ‘A’ logo make this the most interesting cap in their set. I’ve never really cared for the snake folded into a ‘D’ logo, and their red on red home cap isn’t so hot. The different colored bill makes their BP cap the D-Backs’ best look.

Atlanta Braves: Road Such a clean look: dark blue everything and a crisp white script ‘A’ to break it up. Sometimes plain and simple can be incredibly effective.

Baltimore Orioles: Home Bringing back the smiling bird logo was a stroke of genius, as was bringing back the traditional home cap: black crown broken up with two white front panels, an orange bill, and the bird front and center. It’s hard to imagine the Orioles wearing anything else. It tops the black road version because there just aren’t enough hats with different colored front panels anymore.

Boston Red Sox: Alternate The traditional look is probably the choice for most, but I like the all blue cap with the hanging socks logo. It’s the best example of how a team steeped in tradition can add a different look while still staying true to their history. Plus it’s the logo from their old satin Starter jackets, and who didn’t love those?

Chicago Cubs: Game There’s no other choice here. They messed around with a red bill on the road for a while before coming to their senses and scrapping it. All blue, red ‘C’ outlined in white. That’s all the Cubs will ever need.

Chicago White Sox: Game It was a classic when it debuted in the early ’90s and still is today. All black with a white ‘Sox’ logo written out in calligraphy, it was one of the first caps I can remember that crossed over to people into fashion, not just baseball. It’s still a great look today.

Cincinnati Reds: Road batting practice The Reds have a ton of caps to choose from: home, road, two alternates, and for some reason, two batting practices. It’s the road BP that wins out: a black crown, red bill, and Mr. Redlegs’ creepy, smiling face front and center. Mr. Redlegs is the stuff of nightmares, but somehow seems endearing. How does that work? I’m not sure, but it makes for a good looking cap.

Cleveland Indians: Alternate road Putting aside all controversy and going strictly by looks, the Tribe’s best lid is the all blue alternate road with the small Chief Wahoo logo. And if they’re serious about dumping the chief, they really need something better than the block ‘C’ that’s on their road and home alternate caps. It’s generic and boring.

Colorado Rockies: Game This one hasn’t changed much at all since the Rockies’ inception in 1993, and for good reason. Of all the expansion teams, Colorado was the one whose logo and cap looked like it had been around for decades. All black with an interlocking ‘CR’ logo, it’s an under-appreciated gem. Here’s hoping they never change it.

Detroit Tigers: Road The Old English ‘D’ logo is great, and it looks even better in orange on the Tigers’ road cap. There’s not much they can do to switch things up without messing up their look– their BP caps are pretty awful, for instance– but the road look is a good way to do something a little different without destroying everything that works.

Houston Astros: Alternate The Astros should celebrate their crazy uniform history, since non-traditional looks are their own kind of tradition. The all orange alternate is the closest they come to doing just that, a callback to their wild duds of the ’70s and ’80s. Plus, it’s just a nice looking hat.

Kansas City Royals: Game The Royals dumped their baby blue alternate cap a few years ago, so all that’s really left is their gamer. It’s a nice look– it doesn’t try to do too much, and has classic elements that make it appealing.

Los Angeles Angels: Game Another team with hardly any choices, so their all red game cap wins by default. Here’s hoping they find a way to incorporate their old ‘LA’ cap with the sewn on halo into their regular rotation eventually.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Game They’ll never change their cap, for good reason: it’s been with them since they moved to the west coast and there’s no reason to do anything differently. Their attempts at a road or alternate look have been disastrous (remember the silver bill?), so they’re better off standing pat.

Miami Marlins: Game I may be one of the few people around that actually likes the Marlins uniforms, and their black game cap is a great look. The oversized ‘M’ logo really stands out: it’s something that makes them stand out without going overboard. The logo is nice, too.

Milwaukee Brewers: Alternate It’s one of the best logos in baseball: the ‘MB’ hidden in the ball and glove. The Brewers use it as their alternate, and it’s about time they bring it back for good. Their current logo looks too much like the Miller beer logo and they should go back to something that is uniquely theirs. And it’s their best look by a mile.

Minnesota Twins: Home The all blue cap with the ‘TC’ logo is another classic, and the logo celebrating the Twin Cities is very unique. It’s much, much better than the old ‘M’ logo they used in their World Series years. They’ve added a new version with a gold outline around the ‘TC’ but it looks too busy and unnecessary. They shouldn’t mess with what works.

New York Mets: Home For some reason the Mets have six (six!) official caps, and they only need one: the all blue home version with the orange ‘NY’ front and center. Everything else in their set is just white noise. And I’m still trying to figure out why they need a camo hat.

New York Yankees: Game As if it could be anything else.

Oakland A’s: Batting practice How you feel about the A’s hats probably depends on how you feel about green and gold. Their most interesting look is their BP, with a green crown, yellow bill, and their awesome elephant logo. And am I the only one who thinks their hats would look infinitely better if they dropped the apostrophe ‘s’?

Philadelphia Phillies: Alternate Blue crown, red bill, red ‘P’ logo, this hat is perfection. There’s something about the shade of blue the Phillies use that really makes it stand out. It’s even better than their home version, which is very nice in its own right.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Alternate home Most of the Pirates’ caps are great (except for the new camo version), but the one that separates itself from the pack is this throwback style alternate with a gold crown and black bill. It looks like something Roberto Clemente would’ve worn. It’s almost a tie with their home lid, but the gold puts this one over the top.

San Diego Padres: Alternate No good choices here, so might as well pick the one they wear when honoring the military. It’s a drab grayish-brown, an updated version of their camo look, and it wins because it’s the closest the Padres come to having a brown cap in their rotation. Padres fans are screaming for their team to return to their brown and gold roots, and for good reason. Their current look is just bad.

San Francisco Giants: Alternate The orange bill makes this one the winner, referencing the Giants’ past while still using the current ‘SF’ logo. It’s a fantastic look they should wear more than once per week. They also need to do something with their BP cap, which is just a mesh version of the alternate. Maybe bring back the script ‘G’ logo like on the hat Willie Mays is always wearing?

Seattle Mariners: 2nd Alternate The M’s just unveiled this one a few weeks ago, a kind of modern throwback to their ’80s look. The dark blue and teal was getting kind of stale, so it’s nice to see them embrace their Kingdome roots with the old blue and yellow. Now if they’d only bring back the trident ‘M’ logo, they’d be set.

St. Louis Cardinals: 1st Alternate The Cards wore this one as their road cap for a long time before designating it as an alternate, and it’s a shame they don’t wear it more often. The red ‘StL’ logo outlined in white looks great against the deep blue crown, and I thought it looked quite nice with their road grays.

Tampa Bay Rays: Game Every single choice here is so boring. I would’ve went with their BP save for the fact that they use their sunburst logo on it, and it looks like a yellow and white bird dropping. Bring back the swimming devil ray! At least it was different.

Texas Rangers: Alternate Head and shoulders better than their game cap, the Rangers would be smart to use this all red version all the time. There’s nothing really wrong with their blue home lid, but the red just looks so much better. It’s a classic look that needs more play.

Toronto Blue Jays: Game It’s too bad the Jays didn’t follow the Orioles’ lead and go back to their white paneled look of the ’80s, which would’ve made an already good look that much better. As is, their game cap is still very nice: a nod to the past while still keeping things modern. They need to work on their BP look, though– a maple leaf logo and nothing else? Really?

Washington Nationals: 2nd Alternate A red crown and blue bill makes this Nats cap really stand out from the rest of their somewhat boring set. They’re the only team in baseball using this look– some have the blue crown and contrasting red bill, but the Nats flipped it and it looks great. They should consider making it their everyday road look.