Cleveland Guardians City Connect uniforms are here and they're perfect

After much anticipation, the Cleveland Guardians City Connect uniforms have been released, and with it comes a sense of relief as they managed to produce one of the better City Connect uniform sets.

There is a nod to the teams of yesteryear with the striping on the shoulders and pants while incorporating the team's new identity with the CLE lettering across the chest. The statuesque art deco style font stands out boldly on top of the blue jersey, which features some textural elements that have been seen throughout the ballpark since the team introduced the Guardians name.

The Guardians are scheduled to wear their City Connect uniforms for every remaining Friday home game this season, with the option to wear them on additional games if the players wish to do so. There are six promotional giveaways, with a t-shirt and bobblehead being given away on separate days this upcoming weekend.

Everyone should be thrilled that the Guardians did not fall for the expected design traps

It is incredibly refreshing to see the Guardians' City Connect uniforms be done right and not end up a visual disaster that a few other teams (Detroit) will be wearing. The designers of this uniform could have gone the literal route and made them stone colored with a statue face being a primary focus point. Not only would this have been incredibly boring, it would have been a complete disappointment from start to finish. 

Going with CLE on the jersey front rather than "The Land" across the chest was a fantastic design choice. The Cavs have done "The Land" more than enough times with their City Edition uniforms, and another entry with that moniker would not have been received well. Additionally, they did not put "THE" in front of CLE, allowing the abbreviation to stand out on its own, another success in this uniform's design. 

Managing to avoid referring to music or the Rock Hall is a decision that must be applauded. They could have very easily placed a guitar somewhere on the jersey with bats made to look like drumsticks, resulting in a very overdone and underwhelming design. We get it, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland, it is mentioned on every national broadcast no matter the sport, but it does not resonate with the population as much as people outside of Northeast Ohio think it does. 

Each and every fan of the Cleveland Guardians knew there was a possibility of their City Connect uniforms being a dud, with some combination of the above design mistakes being mentioned as potentially making an appearance. Bypassing all the remedial design elements that could have been used and instead going with this incredible work of art (deco) can only be described as a success.