With the Blue Jays playing in the World Series, some Toronto fashion enthusiasts are hanging up their closet-staple Dodgers and Yankees caps in support of their home team. But many say Blue Jays hats are harder to style, compared to the minimalist logos of the opponents.

One social media user shared her experience in a video on TikTok.

“As a Toronto fashion girlie, it is physically paining me that I haven’t been able to wear my baseball caps,” she said, holding a Yankees cap in one hand and a Dodgers cap in the other. “I love Toronto more than I love my outfit.”

The same user said the Jays caps are “not cute” and that she is trying to make her own Blue Jays hat alternative.

“I don’t think you’ll see me in an official Jays cap until they get cuter,” she said in the video. 

One video on social media shows a woman swapping out her “Pinterest board” collection of Yankees and Dodgers caps for her Blue Jays baseball hats. 

“My hat rotation will be shorter the next few weeks,” the caption reads. 

Some logos ‘transcend sports’

Chris Creamer, the founder and editor of SportsLogos.Net, said the Dodgers and Yankees logos have been popularized to the point they “transcend sports.”

“You can wear a Yankees or a Dodgers cap [and] not be a baseball fan [or] have any knowledge of baseball whatsoever,” he told CBC Toronto.

He said the logos are worn by celebrities like Jay-Z and Ice Cube, which helps make them fashionable to a wider audience. Creamer said the logos’ simplicity makes them versatile.

“They’re one colour, they go with anything,” he said. “They can go in any colour scheme.”

The Blue Jays logo, which is three colours and includes a stylized bird and a maple leaf, does not have the same simplicity, he said. The opponents’ logos are also more established, he said, having each been around for several decades. Creamer said the logos have become a symbol for the cities, not just the teams.

“The current Jays logo has only been around for 13 years. It’s very young,” said Creamer.

Lesley Mak, a Blue Jays superfan and hat collector, said from a style perspective, the Jays logo can be “fussy” compared to other, more “classic” logos. 

“It’s a challenging logo to go with everything,” Mak told CBC. “When you’re wearing it, you are definitely wearing a Blue Jays hat and you know you’re wearing a Blue Jays hat.”

Mak has over 60 Jays hats to choose from, but she said some people want to throw on a neutral-looking hat when they don’t want to think about what they’re wearing. 

“I have no problem with people wearing whatever hat logo they want,” she said.

Mak designed her own purple Blue Jays cap with Styll, a local store, about two years ago. She said it can be hard to find hats that are designed with women in mind.

Style and solidarity at odds

One Toronto woman said in a post on TikTok she was “stared down” while wearing an off-white Los Angeles Dodgers hat. She said in the video she chose the hat as it matched her brown tracksuit.

“It was a really poor choice today,” she said in the video, ending by expressing her support for the Blue Jays.

WATCH | Blue Jays fans line up for merch ahead of the World Series:

Blue Jays fans rush for merch, World Series tickets

Excitement about the Toronto Blue Jays’ first trip to the World Series in more than 30 years had fans in online queues for tickets and lining up to get their hands on ALCS merchandise.

The hat debate is sparking some controversy online as some wearers of the opposing teams’ logos are doubling down on wearing the caps, regardless of the teams they represent.

One user posted a video of her wearing a Yankees hat in Toronto, saying she doesn’t watch sports and called the navy blue colour of the New York team’s hat “that girl.” 

The video received many comments agreeing with the post but also received many in opposition. 

“It’s just a hat. People need to get over it,” commented one user.

“There’s a time and place and unfortunately during the series isn’t it,” wrote another. 

Others in the comments recommended stores like Winners and Aritzia to find similar-looking Jays hats.  

Creamer said that while the other logos might be easier to style, he encouraged Jays fans across the country to wear Jays hats. 

“This is one of those rare instances where we’re all together as a country.… We’re all behind the Blue Jays. Let’s get behind this and embrace this rare moment of national unity,” said Creamer.