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The Jays’ new and improved 2025 playoff jacket is a stylish flex that’s loud, proud and absolutely worthy of self-celebration.Ishika Samant/Getty Images
Tim Gunn is best known for his scathing commentary, but when he recently critiqued the Blue Jays’ home run jacket, the Project Runway alum had nothing but praise: for the colour (a tasteful “greyish-blue”) as well as the embellishments (“elaborate, and quite frankly, very sophisticated”). Gunn quibbled a bit with the jacket’s “boxy” fit, but oversized is in right now, and besides, Vladdy’s batting arm isn’t about to slip into a slim fit. It’s unclear why Gunn (a proud New Yorker) is repping for the team that so recently kicked the Yankees off the runway. But the man knows a statement piece when he sees one.
Gunn isn’t the only one giving rave reviews of the new and improved Jays’ home run celebration blazer, a custom design created specifically for the 2025 playoff season. The jacket is colourfully emblazoned with the players’ home countries to reflect the team’s diverse provenances, along with the Jays logo, Guerrero’s “Plakata!” catchphrase and a sparkly Canadian flag running down the sleeve. It’s fun, flashy and unabashed. The same could be said of the 2025 Blue Jays, who have finally found their mojo – and their glitter gun.
In the social media era, dugout celebrations – team-specific rituals that mark the moment when a batter hits one out of the park – have become a popular gimmick. The Mariners have their trident, the Yankees bark like dogs and the Orioles chug from a water-filled beer bong. Starting Friday, Jays fans will likely witness the appearance of the Dodgers’ Samurai helmet (a tribute to the singular excellence of Shohei Ohtani) – although hopefully not too much of it.
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Toronto Blue Jays’ Isiah Kiner-Falefa puts the home run jacket on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after Guerrero hit a solo home run during the fifth inning against the New York Yankees on Sept. 5.Brad Penner/Reuters
The team’s “Barrio jacket” was first introduced in 2021 and christened by Guerrero when he clocked a dinger at Fenway Park. The concept has been attributed to the team’s Spanish interpreter Hector Lebron, who felt that the “La Gente Del Barrio” (“the people of the neighbourhood”) catchphrase stitched on the back spoke to the Jays’ cultural diversity and collective mentality.
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The jacket was a popular mainstay for a couple of seasons, often seen on Toronto’s most reliable sluggers including Bo Bichette, George Springer and Teoscar Hernandez. But then, in 2023, a curve ball: Coach John Schneider announced the home run jacket’s retirement, explaining that it was time to focus on more than just hitting homers. His team was struggling at the time, and so enough with the celebratory sideshow.
The question of whether charming but juvenile expressions of joy belong in the ballpark reflects a broader debate in baseball: should the game be fun and lighthearted, or respectful of the traditional unwritten rules of the sport? The iconic Bautista bat flip prompted conversations about safety and respect. But a lot of the talk centred on whether showy displays of personality were a welcome addition to the sport or an undignified distraction.
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Guerrero Jr. puts the home run jacket on teammate Andrés Giménez after his two run home run during the third inning against the Seattle Mariners on Oct. 16.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
The rise and fall of dugout celebrations over the years runs along similar fault lines (RIP the Dodgers’ iconic bubble machine, a dugout ritual that got banned by the MLB in 2014). It’s not dissimilar to how the fashion world is forever bouncing back and forth between stealth wealth (status via restraint and apathy) and loud luxury, the philosophy of which states: if you’ve got it, flaunt it.
The Jays have certainly got “it” this season. Both their first trip to the World Series in 32 years and their new and improved 2025 playoff jacket – a bedazzled rebuke of the idea that excellence and exuberance are somehow at odds – are a stylish flex that’s loud, proud and absolutely worthy of self-celebration.
