Mariners will announce new Sunday alternate uniforms this Friday

This Friday, the Mariners are set to announce that they are introducing a new alternate jersey this year to be worn on Sundays at home. This comes in addition to the other standard four jerseys the Mariners currently wear, including the teal tops, which will stick around for another season. The M's posted this teaser image across social media yesterday.

The Mariners have thirteen home games on Sunday this year, including the last game of the year against Oakland.

The Mariners have played around with alternates before, selling several iterations of throwback caps as official 5950s in several of the past five years. But they've never made a shift away from doing straight replicas of the past. There hasn't really been a true alternate jersey in the sense of really veering from what they've done before, and this might be the time they finally do it after a couple years of rumors.

It's kind of exciting, if for no other reason than the ability to purchase a new Mariners hat or jersey. It's not that I'm sick of the standard compass design, except that I kind of am. The M's just don't have the storied history to latch onto one design for a long time. I've been kicking around the idea of the Mariners doing a refresh of their current uniform set for a while now, so I have nothing but irrationally high hopes for Friday's announcement. Even if the Mariners go full Padres and make a terrible error, we'll only have to stomach it for 8% of the games. I don't think that'll happen. This is a franchise that doesn't always make great baseball decisions, but this kind of stuff they usually nail.

It's fair to wonder if this could be the result of all the rumored changes from several years ago, when a Facebook post from Seattle clothiers Ebbets Field Flannels suggested the Mariners were going with cream jerseys at home instead of white, and possibly adding gold to the color scheme. This past season, Rick Rizzs mentioned on the air that the Mariners were interested in adding cream as an alternate, specifically on Sunday home games. Ryan Divish also speculates that it's the most likely result.

It's safe to say that with all the information we know, cream is the most likely candidate for Friday's announcement. But that doesn't mean we can't speculate or wish for other possibilities, including revisiting the trident (DO IT) or bringing back the blue and gold color scheme with the classic S.

I'm a noted cream jersey critic. I've never been a fan of how they look -- I prefer a cleaner look for a younger franchise like the Mariners, and cream jerseys would probably be paired with the current hat, which would be a double splash for a lackluster announcement. At the very least, I'm hoping for a new hat design to purchase -- though I've been wearing my old white trident on a navy cap 5950 from the New Era "Twisted" series back in 2006 (M's throwback design on Tigers home cap color scheme -- gorgeous) for the better part of a decade, it's getting pretty worn and tattered.

Fans tend to be pretty split on both the cream color and bringing back the trident, which will make Friday's announcement entertaining. Throwbacks are fun, but call back to a dark and unsuccessful era of Mariners baseball. Does refreshing an old logo with the current color scheme make sense? My irrational hope is yes, as mainly I just want a replacement for my favorite hat. You can't deny the trident is the best. Don't.

One thing is for sure, we're going to care way too much about this. What are you hoping for? Post your favorite alternates of years past or photoshop your dream combination. Go ahead, get weird.