The ownership group that owns the Oklahoma City Dodgers (Los Angeles Dodgers’ AAA affiliate) announced on Thursday that they are dropping the “Dodgers” nickname and will undergo a 2 year process to rebrand to a “fresh, local team name.”

The plan is for the club to go by the “Oklahoma City Baseball Club” moniker for the 2024 season (gives off Washington Football Team vibes). After that the club will have a new nickname and subsequent brand for the 2025 season.

For those of us who have been around the OKC area for “a while” immediately thought that they should go back to the “89ers” nickname the organization used for 35 years (1962-1997).

However, it doesn’t seem that will be the case. The team released the logos and “names” they will use for the 2024 season and the “89ers” logo is included.

Furthermore, in an “exclusive” piece from Jenni Carlson on Sellout Crowd, the team president and general manager, Michael Byrnes indicated that everything will be “fresh” for the 2025 season.

The team’s new brand will roll out for the 2025 season with fresh everything. A new nickname. New logos. New uniforms. In the interim, the team will have what Byrnes called a temporary identity for the 2024 season: the Oklahoma City Baseball Club.

“We’ll have some new logos that are specific to next season, we’ll have new uniforms and we really intend to spend the season basically kind of celebrating the history of baseball in our community,” Byrnes said. “And then 2025 will become the future of baseball in our community.”

selloutcrowd.com

A rebranding is needed

I’ll admit that I am not a (Los Angeles) Dodgers fan. I am a HUGE Chicago Cubs fan. So for the last 9 years, hearing a local team named the “Dodgers” kind of turned me off. I know that other MLB teams have had their AAA team here in OKC. The Phillies, Rangers, and Astros have all been in OKC since I’ve been here (I’m old, I know). But that never seemed to matter with me when the team was called the 89ers or even the Redhawks.

Yes, the team will still be the Dodgers’ AAA affiliate, but seeing them in a different uniform that is obviously not a nod to the big league club could help get more people behind the local team.

I will also say that after going through each affiliated team while doing the “Oklahomans In The Pros” series, I found it odd that the OKC Dodgers were named after the big league club when so few at High-A and above weren’t. They had a local name (the golfer in me loves the Augusta GreenJackets the best).

Here’s something a local already came up with. Look pretty good.

What do you think the new nickname of the organization should be? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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