An Alternate Universe's MLB

[Jezus_Ghoti]

You blow my highest expectations out of the water every time you post a new one of these things (NFL series included).

[robbman21]

Loogodude, I flipped the sock in the alt logo so that the socks as a pair would occupy the same space as the walking cub in the Cubs logo. Though it doesnt do it perfectly, it achieves the effect I was going for.

[TBGKon]

If it wasn't caught before, I'm guessing our reality's Dodgers are the KC Royals?

[utahjazz48]

I agree with Jezus_Ghoti and almost all of the other people rhat have posted on this topic by saying that I thik all of the alternatate universe logos are great, and you really hoid up to the changes well.Meaning you remember all of the switches you make and use them, even in a post for a different team. (Example: You said for the 2001 World Series The St. Louis Cardinals were going for their fourth strait championship, and you also said, in a different post, the Cardinals had 27 championships. Obviosly switched with the Yankees.) I applaud you.

[TrueYankee26]

I love the Orioles and Sox looks! AMAZING!

[Moseph]

Amazing series man.

[knnhrvy16]

Dear goodness, that White Sox set is beautiful. Not sure what else to say. Incredible job!!

[JH42XCC]

I love the Chicago Cubs-styled alternate history Chicago White Sox uniform concept.

The C-Sox logo is, in the words of Dan Patrick, simply en fuego.

So from what we've seen thus far in this Alternate Universe MLB Project:

Real timeline ==> Alternate timeline counterpart

New York Mets ==> Toronto Blue Jays

Chicago Cubs ==> Chicago White Sox

Atlanta Braves ==> Cleveland Indians

Baltimore Orioles ==> Philadelphia Phillies

Oakland Athletics ==> Houston Astros

Boston Red Sox ==> Chicago Cubs

Los Angeles Dodgers ==> Kansas City Royals

New York Yankees ==> St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals ==> Baltimore Orioles

Philadelphia Phillies ==> Oakland Athletics

San Francisco Giants ==> Pittsburgh Pirates

Colorado Rockies ==> New York Yankees

Florida Marlins ==> Detroit Tigers

Cincinnati Reds ==> Boston Red Sox

Arizona Diamondbacks ==> Florida Devil Rays

San Diego Padres ==> Los Angeles Angels

Chicago White Sox ==> Colorado Rockies

Detroit Tigers ==> Miami Marlins

Milwaukee Brewers ==> Minnesota Twins

Kansas City Royals ==> Washington Nationals

Minnesota Twins ==> San Francisco Giants

[robbman21]

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins began life as a hastily assembled expansion team in the Pacific Northwest known as the Seattle Flyers. After playing one dreadful and financially disastrous season in Seattle, the team was sold by a group from Minneapolis, MN who moved them there and renamed them the ?Twins?, after the once powerful minor league team in the same city. They also adopted the name ?Minnesota? to encompass the fact that they belonged to both Minneapolis and St. Paul. After finishing 65-97 in 1970 (a one-game improvement over the year before)the Twins would continue to lose until 1978, when they finally broke through with a winning season. Winning 93 games that year, the Twins finished 6.5 games out of first place and set the pace for the next several seasons. They followed that up by finishing 95-66 in 1979 and improving from 3rd to 2nd in the division. The 1980 season saw a slight drop off to 86 wins, but it saw the debut of young sluggers Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, and Tom Brunansky and the emergence of Gary Ward that created a formidable lineup for National League pitchers. After that 3rd place finish, the Twins surged in the strike-shortened 1981 season and won the division in the season?s second half?split into two seasons due to the strike. That landed them their first ever playoff spot in the special Division Series created specifically because of the strike, where they lost 3 games to 2 to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Twins would bounce back in 1982. This time their 95 wins were enough to win the division and get them back to the playoffs against the San Diego Padres, where they quickly fell down 0-2, but rallied to win 3 in a row and become the first team to win a five game series after losing the first 2. This would give the Twins their first (and so far only) World Series appearance VS the Baltimore Orioles. Despite winning Game 1 10-0 and strong performances from young pitcher Frank Viola, the Twins would fall in the series in 7 games. Though 1983 opened with much promise, fans were quickly disappointed as the Twins never finished higher in the division than 5th out of 7 teams for the next four seasons. However the Twins fortunes picked up in 1987 as they won their first 13 games right out of the shoot, but then turned around in May to lose 12 in a row. The season was also highlighted by Kirby Puckett?s 39 game hitting streak and the only no-hitter in team history, thrown by Frank Viola on April 15th of that year. The next year the Twins finished only two games out of first place behind the Florida Marlins, albeit with a lesser record than they posted in 1987. A few more mediocre to losing seasons followed, and a management change was on hand for the 1992 season. That year provided a resurgence for the Twins as they finished 92-70 in 1992, only 4 games behind eventual World Series champion Atlanta. The hope was short-lived however as the Twins plummeted in 1993 and finished a wretched 26 games out of first place. Following 1993 and beyond it would be a while before Minnesota fielded a competitive ballclub. Before the expansion season of 1998 was to begin, it was clear that one team would have to leave the National league and join the American league for scheduling and logistics purposes. After the Washington Nationals were the first team offered the chance and declined, the option fell to the Twins, who announced in late 1997 that they had accepted and would begin play in the American League in 1998. The move to the American League opened-up new opportunities and new on-field rivalries, and thus attendance grew as interest was sparked in the Twins once again. The result of the influx of income was Target Park, a retractable roof ballpark featuring the world?s only fan-shaped retractable roof, which opened in 2001. When the 2004 season brought a change of ownership and a renewed focus towards scouting and player development, things finally began to turn around on the field for the Twins. Youngsters such as Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Johan Santana were called-up from the minors and began having an immediate impact on the field. The 2005 season saw the Twins finish at .500, 81-81, for their first non-losing season in 13 years. The Twins fell back to the pack a bit in 2006 though, only finishing with a 75-87 record. That season was also memorable as the team introduced ?Throwback Friday Nights? at all of their home games that season(and every season since) by bringing back the world-famous ?Ball and Glove? logo that was the symbol of the team?s early days as well as their only World Series appearance. The experts had the young Twins dubbed as a sleeper team to watch heading into 2007, and the season started off with much promise. In fact, the Twins once had the best record in baseball during the season as well as an 8 ½ game lead in their division on June 23rd, but all that went away as the season turned to the dog days of summer. On the weekend?s final season the Twins sat 2 games behind the Red Sox with three games to go and the Wild-Card leading Mariners coming to town. The Twins took 2 of 3 from the Mariners but it wasn?t enough as the Red Sox would still clinch the division. Still though, it was a positive year for the young Twins as they finished at 83-79 and secured their first winning season in 15 years. Justin Morneau capped his season off by slamming 50 home runs and winning the Hank Aaron award. This would set the stage for a great run in 2008, despite the fact that they started June with a losing record. Despite this they got hot through June and entered the All-Star break with a 52-43 record, only good for 3rd place in the division. After going 20-8 in August, the Twins found themselves leading the Wild Card race heading into the month?s final season. After the Toronto Blue Jay?s second consecutive late-season collapse, the Twins found themselves back in the playoff for the first time since 1982, a 26 year drought. The excitement was short-lived however, as the Twins fell in the ALDS to the eventual World Champion Oakland A?s. Despite much hope for the young Twins entering 2009, the team struggled to finish with an 80-82 record.

The Reality ? Though both teams have young, formidable lineups, the Twins are a solid contender every season while the Brewers seem stuck in the same gear over, and over, and over again. The two play each other every season as part of their interleague rivalry, but prior to the Brewers jumping to the Sr. Circuit, the Twins held a 210-201 edge VS the Brewers in head-to-head. The most famous player to have worn both uniforms is Minnesota native Paul Molitor, a first-ballot Hall of Famer who began his career in Milwaukee (and got 5 hits in Game 1 of the World Series) and finished his career at home with the Twins after a stop in Toronto to pick up a World Series ring. More recently, long-time Brewer fan favorite Jeff Cirillo donned the Twins threads.

Thoughts ?How do I recreate the ball and glove?? That?s the first thing that came to mind when I decided that I was going to do an alternate world series for the MLB. Even while working on other teams I was constantly trying to wrap my head around pulling off that logo?and if it was even possible. While I considered briefly going the cheap and easy way out and keeping it the same save for adding a ?C? around the ball (for ?Minnesota Baseball Club?) I decided I needed to incorporate the ?TC? into the design somehow since it was missing elsewhere. After searching for some graphics of ball gloves, I found one I thought was suitable and gave it my best shot, and I gotta say I actually do like the result of this one. My one fear though is that people may see it as saying ?ITMI? rather than the logo it?s supposed to be. I was able to correct the one thing that always bothered me with the original?the lack of a pink/fourth finger on the glove. Originally the ?C? wasn?t as defined and was one big sweeping character around the ball and up the glove forming the pinky, but after thinking some may see that as a ?J?, I added the divider line to create separation. The glove has a little more perspective/angle than the original and I think it look more like a glove than the original, but ultimately the final judgment lies with you guys. One thing I did find out while doing this though: The creator of this logo may very well have created the absolute perfect logo when he created this. The way I see it, if you create a logo?or anything for that matter?that?s pretty impossible to recreate as a knockoff without straight-up copying it and/or stealing it then, then you?ve created perfection. And now I know without a doubt why it has endured for so long.

[bigmike]

Once again, amazing work man, I can't wait for the Braves Alternate reality team. This one looks beautiful though especially the glove logo!

[Ted Cunningham]

Very nice stuff here. I've enjoyed both the MLB and NFL series so far.

Two little things:

1) The little o in Orioles doesn't connect to the l the way a normal script o would (with the connecting bit coming off the top of the letter). Instead, it looks almost like an a: Oriales.

2) I see what you did with the ball-in-glove logo for the twins, but it just doesn't look as clean or translate quite a cleverly as the m and b do in the actual logo. If you want to go with a throwback logo, why not just use the state outline and the old block M? (I think that logo is a bit classier anyway.) (This is the logo I'm talking about.)

[skier14]

As I always say, I am so excited to see that you post a new concept in this thread, and as always I think it is amazing. Great work on this; it is certainly one of my favorites. The ball in glove logo is great, but my favorite is the scripts; they look amazing.

Once again, great work!

[wildwing64]

I don't even pay much attention to baseball, but so far, this is one of the most entertaining concept series I have ever seen

Can't wait to see more!

[NorthStar74]

Whoa the Twins jersey looks are so cool.. wow great work, man.. cant wait to see more...

[BJBerthiaume]

Holy cow, those scripts look fantastic. This is definately my favorite one so far, but I might be a little biased haha.

[GMW79]

Believe it or not this is my first look at the MLB thread, and I like it even more than the NFL thread. Both are a lot of fun, and the effort put into them should be applauded.

robbman21: If you wouldn't get too bored, busy, etc, would you be willing to do an NHL series (and an NBA one, for that matter)?

[JH42XCC]

Excellent work on the alternate reality Twins.

[CJworks]

Woah, I didn't realize how perfect the Twins would look with the Brewers' template until just now...and it looks perfect.

And as I got near the end of the images, I realized you had todo the ball-in-glove logo, and I honestly didn't think it could be pulled off. But you managed to get all three letters in there; Twin, Cities, and Minnesota. Great job on that.

[kbaker19]

That's so sweet. Not as good as the actual ball in glove logo, but then again nothing is.

[UnclearInitial]

the scripts and unis look sweet, but I see itmi on the glove. it also looks like it has 6 fingers, maybe you could drop the pinkie