Rays To Wear Throwbacks on Opening Day, Call Back to 1998

The Rays are bringing them back!

The team announced on its promotional schedule that on March 30th, the team will wear throwbacks for Opening Day, almost 25 years to the exact day the Rays (at the time, the Devil Rays) debuted versus the Detroit Tigers, the team the Rays will open the '23 season with.

The Rays have worn throwbacks for the better part of the last 5 seasons, bringing back the Devil Rays look in 2018 for the team's 20th anniversary season, and they have been a staple ever since.

The Rays were able to incorporate the new styled Devil Rays hat with their current uniform set, primarily with the baby blue jerseys for the past 5 years on Sundays, in addition to the uniform as a whole being used many times in the last 5 years. 

With the return of the Devil Rays uniforms, the team will be losing the "gray unis," according to the Rays The Roof podcast.

The reason behind this is due to the new rule that Nike and the MLB have implemented, where teams are only allowed to wear four full-time uniforms plus a City Connect jersey as well, going in a very NBA-like direction heading into 2023.

For the most part, the Rays don't usually wear the gray tops as much as they used to, opting to wear the navy-blue tops instead while on the road.

Some teams, such as the Mariners, have also gone in this direction, opting to keep their colored uniforms over keeping a gray standard road uniform.

This is an exciting announcement, though, for the Rays, and something that, personally, I am extremely happy about.

25 years ago, the Rays made their baseball debut versus Detroit, and to have the same uniforms worn from that day (or at least something close) is a great callback and something that people can reminisce on from times past.

The 25th anniversary season is shaping up to be a fun year.

With the 25th anniversary gear, the special promotions, the Hall of Fame inductions, and now the added addition of throwback uniforms, the 25th anniversary season will bring fans from all eras together in one year, which will be a great sight to see.