Major League Baseball has 30 separate palettes, 15 in the American League and 15 in the National League. Each one lists between 3 and 5 colors, and white is on every list.
That standard palette is only part of what a club wears, though. MLB has unveiled 37 City Connect uniforms in five years, and a few of them drop the palette completely. The Red Sox set is yellow and blue with no red at all (ESPN, April 2026).
The published color codes cover the standard scheme only, and the sites that publish them don't always agree with each other.
MLB Team Colors by League and Division
Every club's palette runs 3 to 5 listed colors. The American League and the National League have 15 teams each.
The lists below follow teamcolorcodes.com. White is on every one, and where a team has its own name for a color I've used it (Sedona red, Dodger blue, Kasota gold).
American League East
The Red Sox, Yankees and Blue Jays all build on red, blue and white. Baltimore goes orange and Tampa Bay goes yellow, so those two look nothing like the rest of the division.
| Team | Colors |
|---|---|
| Baltimore Orioles | Orange, black, white |
| Boston Red Sox | Red, blue, white |
| New York Yankees | Blue, red, navy blue, gray, white |
| Tampa Bay Rays | Navy blue, Columbia blue, yellow, white |
| Toronto Blue Jays | Blue, navy blue, red, white |
American League Central
| Team | Colors |
|---|---|
| Chicago White Sox | Black, silver, white |
| Cleveland Guardians | Navy blue, red, white |
| Detroit Tigers | Navy blue, orange, white |
| Kansas City Royals | Royal blue, gold, white |
| Minnesota Twins | Twins navy blue, scarlet red, Kasota gold, white |
The Tigers and Guardians each pair navy with a single accent. The White Sox are the only team in the division with no blue at all.
American League West
Since 2025 the Athletics have played with no city in the team name. West Sacramento is home for at least three seasons, and a move to Las Vegas is planned for 2028 (MLB.com, February 2025).
The palette stayed green and gold. A gold alternate jersey with "Sacramento" in green script joined the rotation for 2026 (MLB.com, September 2025).
| Team | Colors |
|---|---|
| Houston Astros | Navy blue, orange, light orange, white |
| Los Angeles Angels | Blue, red, maroon, silver, white |
| Athletics | Green, gold, gray, white |
| Seattle Mariners | Navy blue, Northwest green, silver, red, white |
| Texas Rangers | Blue, red, white |
Green only shows up in this division, on the Athletics and the Mariners.
National League East
At five colors, the Marlins have the longest list in the division.
| Team | Colors |
|---|---|
| Atlanta Braves | Scarlet, navy blue, yellow, white |
| Miami Marlins | Miami blue, Caliente red, slate gray, midnight black, white |
| New York Mets | Blue, orange, white |
| Philadelphia Phillies | Red, blue, white |
| Washington Nationals | Red, navy blue, white |
National League Central
| Team | Colors |
|---|---|
| Chicago Cubs | Blue, red, white |
| Cincinnati Reds | Red, black, white |
| Milwaukee Brewers | Navy blue, yellow, white |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | Black, yellow, white |
| St. Louis Cardinals | Red, navy blue, yellow, white |
St. Louis is the one team here with both yellow and red. The Brewers and Pirates also list yellow, and the Cubs and Reds list red.
National League West
The NL West has the widest spread in the league. The Rockies bring purple, the Padres brown, the Diamondbacks teal and the Giants orange.
| Team | Colors |
|---|---|
| Arizona Diamondbacks | Sedona red, Sonoran sand, black, teal, white |
| Colorado Rockies | Rockies purple, silver, black, white |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodger blue, red, silver, white |
| San Diego Padres | Brown, gold, white |
| San Francisco Giants | Orange, black, beige, gold, white |
Brown and gold have been the Padres scheme since 2020 (MLB.com, November 2019), but some older palette pages still list navy and white.
Which Colors Do MLB Teams Use Most?
White is on all 30 teams, though that's more of a given than a choice. Blue and red are what actually separate the clubs, and everything else trails far behind.
- White on all 30 teams
- Blue or navy on 21 teams
- Red on 17 teams as stated, 16 by name
- Yellow or gold on 10 teams
- Black on 8 teams in the palettes above
These counts come from teamcolorcodes.com. The page states totals for white (30), blue (21) and red (17), and its yellow/gold and black figures come from its per-color team lists. Its own red list names 16 teams, and counting Atlanta's scarlet would make 17. The black list names nine teams because it includes Atlanta, whose own palette has no black, so the palettes above show eight.
The Red Sox, Cubs, Phillies, Rangers, Guardians, Nationals and Blue Jays all stay inside red, blue or navy, and white. On a cap, those seven take a second look to tell apart.
Purple, green, teal and brown are still rare, and that group has barely moved in a decade. (teamcolorcodes.com's own least-used list swaps green for maroon, which only the Angels wear.) Putting John LaRue's 2016 Hardball Times review of uniform colors next to today's lists turns up one real change.
| Rare color | 2016 (Hardball Times) | Today (team lists) |
|---|---|---|
| Purple | Rockies only | Rockies only |
| Green | A's and Mariners full time | Athletics and Mariners |
| Teal | Diamondbacks as an accent | Diamondbacks |
| Brown | Padres, intermittently | Padres, primary since 2020 |
Brown went from an occasional throwback to a primary color. Nothing else shifted.
MLB Team Color Codes in HEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone
Team colors get published in HEX and RGB for screens, CMYK for print, and Pantone (PMS) for matched ink and thread.
What each code format measures
A HEX code is a six-character string for the red, green and blue mix, like #005A9C for Dodger blue. RGB writes that same mix as three values from 0 to 255, so Dodger blue reads 0, 90, 156.
CMYK is the print one, with four ink percentages. The Diamondbacks' Sedona red is 5, 100, 71, 22 on usteamcolors.com, while teamcolorcodes.com lists 23, 100, 83, 17. Two sites, two sets of numbers for the same red.
Pantone is the odd one out. A PMS number points to a physical ink swatch instead of a screen value, such as PMS 294 C from a printed library. That's why print shops and thread suppliers ask for one (what a Pantone swatch actually is goes into it).
Verified sample values
Four colors match across at least two published palettes. usteamcolors.com says its HEX codes come from the SVG logo on each team's website and its Pantone numbers from a concessions catalog.
| Team | Color | HEX | Pantone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodger blue | #005A9C | PMS 294 C |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | Red | #EF3E42 | PMS 185 C |
| Boston Red Sox | Red | #BD3039 | PMS 186 C |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | Sedona red | #A71930 | PMS 187 C |
Choosing a format for the job
Choose based on where the color will end up. HEX or RGB covers anything on a screen. Print goes by CMYK, with Pantone added when the job needs a spot color. Thread, vinyl and ink work from Pantone.
Tools that turn a HEX value into the closest Pantone swatch, like a HEX to Pantone converter, return the nearest match and not the number a team specified. Use one only when no official PMS value exists, and treat the result as an approximation.
Why Do Color Codes for the Same Team Differ Between Sources?
Each site pulls its values from somewhere different. usteamcolors.com takes HEX from the SVG logo on the team's website and Pantone from a concessions catalog, while teamcolorcodes.com marks its tables "Verified" without naming a method.
Same team, different values
| Team and color | usteamcolors.com | teamcolorcodes.com |
|---|---|---|
| Red Sox navy | #192C55, PMS 289 C | #0C2340, PMS 289 C |
| Tigers navy | #182D55, PMS 289 C | #0C2340, PMS 289 C |
| Tigers orange | #F26722, PMS 172 C | #FA4616, PMS 172 C |
| Diamondbacks teal | #3FC2CC, PMS 2226 C | #30CED8, PMS 319 C |
Both sites cite PMS 289 C for the Red Sox and Tigers navy, but the HEX codes are visibly different. A third site, brandpalettes.com, goes further and gives Red Sox red as #C62033 (PMS 711 C), against #BD3039 (PMS 186 C) on the other two.
Stale palettes and the Padres
The Padres switched to brown and gold for 2020 and beyond (MLB.com, November 2019). Plenty of pages never caught up. usteamcolors.com still lists navy and white with #002D62 and PMS 282 C, and the page carries no date. teamcolorcodes.com, on the other hand, lists brown as #2F241D (PMS 412 C) and gold as #FFC425 for 2020 to present.
The navy page also contradicts itself. Converting its RGB values (30, 49, 96) back to HEX gives #1E3160, not the #002D62 it prints.
When the listed codes do not apply
Any page that predates a palette change describes a retired scheme, so a rebranded team's old codes won't match its current look. None of the sites above is a team brand guideline either. A media guide sits closer to the source, and usteamcolors.com cites page 6 of the 2018 Arizona Diamondbacks Media Guide for that team's colors.
Pantone numbers taken from a concessions catalog are a product spec, not a brand standard.
How Did MLB Teams Choose Their Colors?
Some teams borrowed from rivals or from a city flag. Others took their colors from the name, and a few came down to one owner's say-so. Where no record survives, the origin stays unknown.
Colors borrowed from other teams and city flags
The Mets took orange from the Giants and blue from the Dodgers, the two National League clubs their 1962 expansion team replaced. Both colors also sit on the New York City flag, according to the Village Voice.
The sources split on this one. teamcolorcodes.com credits the official colors of New York State, while the Village Voice and Untapped Cities point to the Dodgers, the Giants and the city flag.
The Pirates wore red, white and blue in the early years. Black and gold began arriving in 1947 and reached the uniforms in 1948, to match the city flag and seal (MLB.com, January 2021). Those city colors come from the coat of arms of William Pitt, the city's namesake.
Colors chosen by one owner
Charlie Finley made the Athletics' call alone.
In 1963 he put the Kansas City club in gold and a bright kelly green for the first time, and he said the gold matched the shade used by the U.S. Naval Academy (MLB.com).
Accounts of his motive vary. MLB.com quotes his argument that cars had gone from black to red, blue, green and gold. Sports Illustrated, May 1963, quoted him saying this was the age of color and that a team selling tickets needed it (as cited by designer Todd Radom). teamcolorcodes.com says he simply wanted to set the team apart from the blue and red most clubs wore.
The Brewers got theirs by default. The club had long planned red and navy, but when it arrived from Seattle in 1970 the plan was scrapped and the Pilots' nautical look stayed, with royal blue and yellow or gold (MLB.com).
Colors drawn from a team name or a song
John I. Taylor, owner of the Boston Americans, ordered uniforms with bright red stockings in December 1907 and came up with the name Red Sox, which took hold in 1908. The Boston Nationals had just swapped their own red stockings for blue in 1907 (MLB.com, citing the book Red Sox Century).
The Rockies have worn a deep purple since 1993, an ode to the "purple mountain majesties" line in "America the Beautiful" (Fox Sports).
For years the club ran two different shades of it. One consistent shade arrived for 2017.
Teams with no documented origin
For the Cubs, White Sox, Astros, Angels, Yankees, Phillies, Mariners and Nationals, teamcolorcodes.com lists the origin as unknown.
That reflects a gap in the record, not proof the choices were arbitrary. Be wary of any neat one-line origin story for these clubs.
How MLB Team Colors Changed From the 1960s to Today
MLB palettes have moved in waves. Baby blue road uniforms started in 1964, metallic gold and black took over in the early 1990s, expansion brought a burst of green and purple, and cream alternates spread from 2000 to 2015. New ballparks and expansion drove most of it (Hardball Times, 2016).
Baby blue and gray road uniforms
Baby blue use peaked at 11 teams in 1980 and 1981, according to John LaRue's Hardball Times review of uniform colors.
The White Sox started it in 1964. By the late 1980s and early 1990s teams had gone back to traditional gray, and in LaRue's 2016 review only the Royals and Rays had revived a pale baby blue in a limited way. The Blue Jays have since added a full powder blue alternate (Uni Watch, January 2020).
The 1990s expansion palettes
Green and teal arrived with the Marlins in 1993, then spread to the Mariners, the Brewers, and the 1998 Diamondbacks and Rays. Purple went to three franchises, all born in the 1990s, and by 2016 only the Rockies still wore it.
The White Sox went black and silver around 1991. The Marlins and Rockies followed in 1993, along with the Mariners in silver. That same year the Royals, Brewers and Astros moved to metallic gold.
Green faded fast. The Brewers dropped it in 2000, the Diamondbacks in 2007, the Rays in 2008 and the Marlins in 2012.
Cream, charcoal and recent rebrands
Cream spread slowly. The Giants stood alone in cream-colored alternate uniforms through 2008, and the rest of the league followed over the next five seasons.
| Year | Teams adding cream |
|---|---|
| 2000 to 2008 | Giants only |
| 2008 | Phillies, Cleveland |
| 2010 | Mets, Twins |
| 2012 | Braves |
| 2013 | Cardinals |
The Mets dropped cream in 2015. Charcoal gained ground in the mid-2000s with the Blue Jays and later the Diamondbacks.
What drove the changes
Stadiums and expansion moved palettes more than taste did. New ballparks brought rebrands at the White Sox, Marlins, Astros, Brewers and Nationals, among others, and each expansion team arrived with its own color wave. LaRue expected brighter colors and very dark gray to keep spreading across the league.
Renames and revivals since 2020
The Cleveland franchise became the Guardians for 2022 and kept its red and navy scheme (reported at the July 2021 announcement).
The Athletics brought gold jerseys back into the rotation in 2025 after a six-year hiatus (MLB.com, February 2025).
How City Connect and Alternate Uniforms Change a Team's Palette
Home and road uniforms stay with the standard palette, white at home and gray on the road. Alternates change the base color. City Connect sets go furthest and often land on colors the team has never worn.
| Uniform type | Color rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Home | White base, team-color trim | Guardians, red and navy trim |
| Road | Gray base, team-color trim | Guardians, same trim |
| Alternate | A team color as the base | Guardians, red home and navy road |
| City Connect | City-themed palette | Red Sox, yellow and blue |
The Guardians' rows come from their 2025 uniform update (Yardbarker). The Red Sox row is the first City Connect set, from 2021.
The four-plus-one rotation
MLB and Nike launched City Connect in 2021, and the league has since unveiled 37 City Connect uniforms in five years, with several teams already on a second design (ESPN, April 2026).
The usual rotation is a home jersey, an away jersey, two alternates and one City Connect. That makes four plus one. An older City Connect set can slide into an alternate slot when a new one debuts, and Nike designs the sets while Fanatics handles production.
Palettes outside the standard colors
The Red Sox first City Connect set used yellow and blue drawn from the Boston Marathon finish line, with no red.
The Braves went with powder blue and "Atlanta" across the chest, a remix of the team's early-1980s uniforms in a shade that left the road uniforms decades earlier. The Orioles pulled orange trim from the warehouse beyond right field and green from the Camden Yards seats. The Brewers' gradient is modeled on Wisconsin summer sunsets.
Not every team changes colors, though. The Pirates kept black and gold (ESPN, April 2026).
City Connect sets also swap the lettering. Today.com notes they carry different colors, fonts and graphics than home and road sets, which is why the typefaces on jerseys change along with the palette.
Why the standard palette stays the baseline
Orioles executive Amanda Ozarowski said the club ran many rounds of color testing with Nike to match its orange and green to Camden Yards (ESPN, April 2026). Nike works from its own set of colorways, so each team's colors have to be checked against them.
That color-matching problem is the same one behind the code disagreements covered earlier. A published team color code describes the standard palette, and a City Connect set needs its own spec.
MLB Team Colors FAQ
Why do MLB teams wear gray on the road?
Road trips used to come with no laundry, and gray hid the dirt, according to an MLB.com feature on jersey history. White at home goes back to a time when dye was expensive.
The habit is loosening. The Mariners dropped their gray road jersey for 2023 under MLB's new four-jersey limit (MyNorthwest, January 2023), though the Rays announced in September 2026 that road grays return in 2027 (WUSF).
Can I use MLB team colors on products I sell?
Logos and team names need a license from MLB Properties, the league's licensing arm. MLB's legal notices list uniform designs and color combinations among the marks that need its permission, and MLB Properties has argued in court that team colors count as trade dress (MLB.com legal notices; MLB Properties v. Salvino, S.D.N.Y., 2005).
Ask MLB Properties before selling anything. This is general information, not legal advice.
Do the Pirates, Steelers and Penguins share the same colors?
Yes, all three wear black and gold. The Steelers have used the scheme since 1933, and the Penguins switched to it in January 1980, midway through the 1979-80 season (MLB.com, January 2021; Heinz History Center).
Verifying a Team's Exact Colors Before You Use Them
The best source for a team's exact colors is the SVG logo on its website, which gives you the HEX values, plus a team media guide where one exists.
Start by confirming the palette is current, then pull HEX from the team's logo file, then check Pantone against a second source.
A retired scheme invalidates every code that follows, so currency comes first. The logo file is the source usteamcolors.com cites for HEX, while its Pantone numbers come from a concessions catalog, which makes Pantone the weakest link.
It does take more time, since a logo file yields no Pantone and print or embroidery jobs need that second source. When only a Pantone number is confirmed, a Pantone to CMYK converter gives a print starting point to proof against a physical swatch.
Verified November 2026. A team rebrand resets the first step for that team.