Fanatics has not had a good year. While it’s not entirely their fault — remember, Fanatics just distributes Nike’s terrible ideas — the uniforms they supplied (or in some cases failed to supply) to MLB teams were borderline see-through. Spring training and the start of the MLB regular season were a disaster for Fanatics, who were usually blamed for the uniforms, not Nike or Major League Baseball. And let me be clear — there’s enough blame for everyone.

Eventually, MLB stepped in to answer players’ complaints, promising to fix a problem that should have been avoided in the first place. The players’ association blamed Nike for the small lettering on the back of the jerseys, the different gray tops and bottoms, and more.

“This was purely a Nike problem,” the memo to the players said. “The bottom line is that Nike reinvented something that didn’t need to be reinvented.”

Of course, the MLBPA has a partnership with Fanatics, which is a very important footnote to the above statement.

“We warned Nike about several changes when they introduced them for 2022, particularly with regard to pants,” the union’s memo said. “MLB was and is also aware of our concerns. Unfortunately, until recently, Nike’s position essentially boiled down to, ‘There’s nothing to see here, players will have to adapt.'”

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At Fanatics Fest over the weekend, well-known MLB celebrity Livvy Dunne — a former LSU gymnast and social media influencer who also dates Pittsburgh Pirates star Paul Skenes — dressed up as a candidate for Bucs NL Rookie of the Year in a Fanatics uniform that, as far as we can tell, needs no alterations.

While a social media stunt can’t make up for months of ineptitude, it will help distract the public from the terrible uniforms. As long as MLB and MLBPA actually fix the problem, the start of 2024 will go down as another bizarre chapter in baseball history.

Otherwise, Livvy Dunne firing 99 mph fastballs with a fake mustache can’t distract the audience forever.