Teams Will Be Named After Memes for Player’s Weekend in August

By: Eric Ransom

Organizations will take inspiration from meme culture to rename their teams, something no other major sport has ever done. (Credit: wfaa.com)

That feeling when you watch an MLB game between the Dabs and the Tide Pods- yeah, it’s a thing now.

With the success of last year’s first ever “Players Weekend” during the final weekend of August, Major League Baseball has decided to take it up a notch.

As a way to keep up with the younger crowd, this year’s Players Weekend will be centered on “fire memes.” Each team will temporarily be renamed after a popular internet meme from the likes of Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and more.

Teams have already come out and announced their names for the weekend.

Each time will follow in the pattern of alliteration after votes from millions of fans on MLB.com/memes.

The Detroit Tigers will become the “Dabs,” the Texas Rangers will turn into the “Tide Pods” and the Seattle Mariners have chosen to become the “Spaghet.”

The Colorado Rockies, being that there home stadium is Coors Field, will go as the “Cold Ones,” referencing “cracking a cold one open with the boys.” Finally, the Boston Red Sox will grab hearts in changing their name to the Bae’s.

The names will be written out across the jersey in the same way as their normal logo, only replaced with their meme of choice.

The remaining teams, including the Mets and Yankees, have not yet determined a name, possibly waiting for the next few month’s new memes to unfold and find inspiration.

As for the players – they are absolutely loving it.

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper said, “It’s hilarious. I can’t wait for the announcers to be completely confused when trying to understand it all. They’ll be like, ‘What the hell is a ‘Spahget?’ – you know, stuff like that. It’s gonna be lit, fam.”

“I’ve never been more proud of Major League Baseball,” said Mets pitcher and social media star Noah Syndergaard. “I just hope the Mets don’t consider Mr. Met a meme and name the team after him. That would be an utter tragedy.”

Syndergaard and Mets mascot Mr. Met have had a running beef over the last few years, enough for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to interject and voice his support of Syndergaard’s distaste for the anthropomorphic baseball head.

Some managers, though, just don’t understand millennial humor.

“I’ve talked with my wife, my kids and even my friend’s dog and I still don’t know what the hell “bae” means,” said Cubs manager Joe Maddon.

Astros manager and World Series winner A.J. Hinch exclaimed, “This shouldn’t distract from the players too much I don’t think, but it really doesn’t make any sense to me. These names are ridiculous. Thank goodness that at least it’s just a weekend.”

Just like last year, the players will also have custom nicknames on the backs of the special jerseys, as well as freedom to wear any colored cleats or accessories. Since Players Weekend was such a hit last year, Commissioner Rob Manfred felt it was a “no-brainer” to expand upon it.

“Major League Baseball has been trying to compete with the more engaging sports like football and basketball for some time now. It seemed pretty obvious to not only engage viewers, but also intrigue a younger audience to watch something relatable involving baseball for once. Even I fall asleep during these games.”

President Trump, fittingly, took to Twitter to voice his opinion on the matter.

“Proud to announce I have successfully curated this year’s MLB Players Weekend. Our distracted youth will be exposed to our GREAT national pastime again. FAKE NEWS will surely not give me the proper credit. The Democrats couldn’t get this done if they tried. SAD!”

Player’s Weekend will take place from August 24-26, 2018.