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As fans of the comedy series "Portlandia'' know, the secret to merchandising is to slap a bird on it. And apparently, the same holds true for baseball uniforms.

After four rounds of voting, tigers, fish, elephants, snakes, astronauts, seafarers, gun-toting officers of the law, buccaneers, heavenly bodies, Native Americans, pinstriped Northeners and even two pairs of colored socks are all gone. Our Battle of the Uniforms will finish with the Battle of the Birds.

The No. 1-seeded Cardinals, who have as iconic a St. Louis design as the Gateway Arch or a bottle of Bud, beat their longtime rival, the Chicago Cubs, in the final round of the National League voting, 54 percent to 46 percent.

Meanwhile, the Cinderella team of the American League bracket upset yet another higher-seeded team in the AL championship. By a margin of 3,103 votes, fans declared they prefer the orange and black Baltimore Orioles over the traditional uniform worn by everyone from Babe Ruth to Derek Jeter. Or perhaps fans just hate the Yankees' pinstripes.

Whatever the reason, it's the Cardinals versus the Orioles for the title of baseball's best uniform. Bird watchers should get their binoculars out for this ornithological fight, though Toronto fans are probably wondering why their colorful Jay was found wanting.

This is serious business, so to make sure that everyone gets a chance to take a long, careful look at these two uniforms and judge the colors, logos, caps and overall style of both home and road uniforms, our polls will be open throughout the weekend. You can cast your vote up until noon ET Monday, when we will declare the winner.

So good luck Cardinals and Orioles. May the better uniform win. And remember voters, this isn't about who actually wears the uniforms but the uniforms themselves.

--Jim Caple

Note: Championship-round poll closes at noon ET Monday.

Mobile users: To vote, click here.

Battle of the Uniforms: Championship

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Battle of the Uniforms seedings

We've now reached the final four. Or, if you prefer, we've reached the league championship series.

Either way, the Battle of the Uniforms is now in the home stretch (or as a malapropism-prone boss of mine once liked to say, "the home run stretch"). In the American League, the Orioles are facing the Yankees, and the National League crown has come down to the Cubs and the Cards.

The seedings, done by Jim Caple and myself, have largely proven accurate. Three of the final four teams were seeded either No. 1 or No. 2 in their respective leagues, which means our uni assessments are largely in line with yours. The lone outlier is Baltimore, which was seeded 13th but upset the top-seeded Tigers.

I'll admit it: I was kind of hoping for a rogue uniform design to make it to the semifinals, just to make things interesting. The Diamondbacks, say, or the Marlins. And I was seriously rooting for the A's to upset the Yanks (they came thisclose). In the end, though, the classic designs have won. And that makes sense: The classics are classic for a reason.

The cool thing about the Battle of the Unis is that several on-field rivalries have been echoed at the ballot box. Wednesday we had the Yankees just eking out a victory of the Red Sox (whose fans were no doubt chanting "Yankees suck!" as they clicked on the Sox icon), and now we have a classic National League matchup, as Chicago and St. Louis face off for Senior Circuit supremacy.

So who's going to advance to the uniform World Series? You folks get to decide that. But I'll say this: I'm voting for the teams with the feathers.

--Paul Lukas

LCS-round polls close at 9 a.m. ET Friday, and the championship round begins shortly thereafter.

Mobile users: To vote, click here.

Jim Caple bracket: American League

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Paul Lukas bracket: National League

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Battle of the Uniforms seedings

Whew! That was a close one.

The New York Yankees -- wearers of pinstripes, owners of the most identifiable uniform in American sports, and so wealthy their sleeves should come with gold cuff links -- nearly went down to defeat at the hands of the budget-conscious Athletics, who gave baseball yellow and green uniforms.

Yes, it's true. The Yankees' famous NY logo was nearly beaten by the Athletics' elephant patch in a second-round matchup so close that Nate Silver could not have been able to call it. After a nip-and-tuck battle, the Yankees finally escaped with a slender 51-49 percent victory to advance to Wednesday's quarterfinals.

It was a tough day for Bay Area fans, who lost another squeaker when the Giants lost 51-49 to the Pirates. It seems the Bay Area needs to expand its population base just a bit.

The rest of the battles were won by fairly wide margins, including the battle of the Soxes (Boston beat Chicago). That sets up an interesting matchup with another battle in the never-ending Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Good luck, guys, and remember: Bloody socks matter only if the voters can see them.

That isn't the only matchup of teams with old-school classic looks, though. The No. 1-seeded Tigers, who still are dressed roughly the way they were when Al Kaline was in right field, take on the Cinderellas of the bracket, the No. 13-seeded Orioles, who handily beat the Royals.

Over in the National League, the No. 1-seeded Cardinals will take on the Pirates, with the Dodgers and Cubs going head to head. This has not been a great season for either Los Angeles or Chicago, but at least one of those teams will win this round.

Who will advance to the Final Four? That's up to you. Polls are open until 9 a.m. ET Thursday morning.

--Jim Caple

Mobile users: To vote, click here.

Jim Caple bracket: American League

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Paul Lukas bracket: National League

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Battle of the Uniforms seedings

As a wise man once said, "Vote early and often." And that's exactly what baseball fans did Monday, as the first-round balloting in the Battle of the Uniforms attracted an enthusiastic electorate and gave us some interesting results.

The Yankees' uniforms trouncing the Indians' look? No surprise there. Ditto for the Phillies over the Diamondbacks and the Giants over the Rockies, among others. Still, there were some mild upsets, such as the Twins beating the Angels and, in the biggest eyebrow raiser of the first round, the Nationals beating the Mets.

That Nats-Mets outcome was the closest race of the first round, with Washington prevailing by 55 percent to 45 percent. Most of the other contests were blowouts. Look at some of these numbers:

• Orioles over Astros, 79 percent to 21 percent.

• Red Sox over Mariners, 73 percent to 27 percent.

• Pirates over Marlins, 81 percent to 19 percent.

And so on. The biggest landslide? The Cubbies trounced the Padres by a whopping 86 percent to 14 percent, offering convincing proof that San Diego needs to go back to the drawing board and get some new uniforms (and giving beleaguered Cubs fans a little morsel of success to feel good about).

As for the second round, there are some intriguing matchups. In the American League, Boston faces off against Chicago -- a battle of the Sox! And in the National League, the Pirates and Giants will be reminding people that they were wearing black long before it became a trendy color.

The most interesting pairing in this round, though, finds the Yankees, the ultimate example of old-fashioned aesthetic tradition, facing the A's, whose green-and-gold look ushered in baseball's Technicolor era. It's old-school versus new-school. Too bad George Steinbrenner and Charlie Finley aren't around to witness it -- they'd likely be voting along with the rest of us.

--Paul Lukas

Note: Second-round polls close at 9 a.m. ET Wednesday, and the next round begins shortly thereafter.

Mobile users: To vote, click here.

Jim Caple bracket: American League

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Paul Lukas bracket: National League

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Battle of the Uniforms seedings

Jerry Seinfeld famously said that because of the way players constantly change teams and teams occasionally change cities, sports fans are actually rooting for clothes.

"You are standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city," he said. "Fans will be so in love with a player, but if he goes to another team, they boo him. This is the same human being in a different shirt, but they hate him now. 'Booo!!! It's a different shirt! Booo!!!!'"

Well, he's right about that. We do root for clothes. And against clothes. As well we should. If Yankees pinstripes or red socks or Dodger blue or, worst of all, those powder blue alternate Royals tops don't get your blood boiling, then you're not a true fan.

Which is why we're holding our Battle of the Uniforms. As Seinfeld said, what is most important is not the player but what the player is wearing. And no, we're not just talking about Kevin Youkilis, but that's a good example.

It's the uniform that is most important. After all, your team may stink. It may not have had a winning record in 20 years. It may not have reached the postseason in your lifetime. It may not have reached the World Series in your grandparents' lifetimes. But chances are your closet is still overflowing with your team's replica jerseys that you proudly wear to the ballpark, the office or the nightclub.

We can look at the standings and know which teams are on top, but which teams have the best uniforms? Which designs have stood the test of time, and which are as dated as the grunge look? Do you prefer the classic look of Detroit's old English "D" on the chest and the Yankees pinstripes? Or do you appreciate the South Beach neon look of the Marlins' jerseys? Should the bill of a cap be as profoundly curved as Christina Hendricks or as flat as the Marlins' offense? Should socks be visible to midcalf, to the knee, or tucked under baggy pants legs?

All this is for you to decide. We've seeded all 30 teams based on their standard home and road uniforms and placed them in a bracket. Throughout the week, you'll have new matchups to vote on each day until only one uniform is left standing. We'll announce the winner next Monday.

Until then, we'll also provide stories and lists about such things as what caused the god-awful '70s look, the rules for when and how to wear replica jerseys, and the good, the bad and the ugly of uniforms throughout the decades.

So check out the bracket. Read our style analysis. Vote for your favorite uniforms. Vote against the ones you hate. And keep checking back each day to see which teams advance and who ultimately tops your best-dressed list.

One request: We know people can get pretty passionate about uniforms, but please keep things civil. If the fashion police can't maintain order, we may have to call in the security in those Padres camouflage jerseys.

--Jim Caple

Note: Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals have first-round byes; first-round polls close at
9 a.m. Tuesday, and the next round begins shortly thereafter.

Mobile users: To vote, click here.

Jim Caple bracket: American League

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Paul Lukas bracket: National League

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Battle of the Uniforms seedings

While you weren't looking, Tim Hudson has been building a pretty impressive Hall of Fame résumé. He won his 200th career game on Tuesday night, even adding a home run that bounced off Bryce Harper's glove. 200 wins isn't a Hall of Fame milestone by any stretch of the imagination, but Hudson is young enough that he could add significantly to his already-impressive totals. To wit: His past three seasons have seen him go 49-26 with a 3.19 ERA and 399 strikeouts. We're not saying his best years are ahead of him, but he's clearly ascribing to the "fine wine" theory of aging.

• Justin Riddick: "'Hudson's going to have to reach the Hall of Fame as a compiler instead of someone who was a really dominant pitcher. The guy's basically been a consistent #2 caliber starting pitcher since joining Atlanta. If he has a career ending injury in the next year or two or his performance has a significant drop in 2014 or 2015, he definitely won't make it."
• Jason O'Rear: "200 wins is a great accomplishment, but it speaks more to longevity and good luck on Tim Hudson's part to be in this position. There are too many people being passed over (like a lot of Tigers on the 1984 team) for this to merit inclusion."
• Shanynn Forbes Karkowsky : "The Hall of Fame is for the greatest to ever play their position. Tim Hudson? Nice career, good pitcher. HOF - NO WAY."
• Luca Ferrieri: "His numbers are better than some of the pitchers already in the HOF. So, by that logic, he IS hof worthy."
• Paul Schmidt: "I think you have to compare Tim Hudson to the other starters that pitched during his career. Not once in his career did he challenge for the Cy Young award. I would put him at very good, but not HOF."
• Tiger Sanders: "He deserves to be in the hall. There will be no more 300 game winners in today's game."

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The "Baseball Tonight Goodyear Express Tour" pulls into Lake Buena Vista, Fla., where the Atlanta Braves are gearing up for the 2013 season. Atlanta made the postseason last year as a wild card but was one-and-done in MLB's new playoff format. Now the Braves have a new, Upton-powered outfield and are looking to make a deeper October run in 2013. Can they do it? Cast your votes!

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MLB's first one-game wild-card playoff was not staged without controversy. In the eighth inning, Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons hit a fly ball that dropped in beyond Cardinals shortshop Pete Kozma, which would have loaded the bases for Atlanta with one out. However, the left-field umpire invoked the infield fly rule, calling Simmons out. Braves fans immediately began throwing bottles and cans on the field, resulting in an 18-minute delay, and manager Fredi Gonzalez informed the umpires the Braves would be playing the rest of the game under protest. Reaction outside Atlanta was just as strong. What did you think of the call? Comment and vote below.

• ssiler1984 I don't blame these fans at all 1 game playoff and an awful call like that........although I wouldnt throw anything I dont blame them lol
• aneezjbm The replacement refs in the Seahawks vs Packers game couldn't have blown that call.
• kearse9090 Bad call, oh well. The Cardinals had a bad call (time out) earlier. That's the way the game goes.
• apeterlives disappointing end for the braves..... just wow
• shemmue2 Game is tainted does not matter if the cards win now , this is what will be talked about. umps ruined this game

What are your thoughts about the infield fly call in the NL wild-card game? Let us know! #2ndguess

— ESPN_baseball (@ESPN_MLB) October 6, 2012

Officially under protest! Wow! At least it's not the 8th inning of a do or die game to get into the NLDS or anything... Oh wait...

— John Axford (@JohnAxford) October 6, 2012

When the shortstop is 40 feet deep in the outfield & the ball lands 10 feet from him its not an ordinary play #getittogether #worstcallevwe

— Alex Wood (@Awood45) October 6, 2012

One game elimination and a call like that is made? Inexcusable

— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) October 5, 2012

Hotlanta take it easy!!! This is embarrassing. On both parts. Umps and the fans. #WildCard

— Chris Dickerson (@CDickerson_PFTP) October 5, 2012

No puedo creer lo que veo.... #MLBPlayoffs #EstoEsIncreible

— Jose Bautista(@JoeyBats19) October 5, 2012

What a bad call. That was not infield fly rule worthy. Awful.

— Michael Kay (@RealMichaelKay) October 5, 2012

He literally pointed in the air half a second before the ball hit the ground... Dang

— Daniel Hudson (@DHuddy41) October 6, 2012

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Chipper Jones has entered his last week of regular season baseball. In his honor, Jayson Stark took a look at Jones' career, causing a few readers to get teary-eyed. How will you remember Chipper Jones? Comment below!

• Lukawren24: With all these guys now a days chasing the money, like Josh Hamilton (won't give a hometown discount) it makes me respect jones that much more. Probably could have made millions more had he left for another team but it meant something to him to stay in atl.
• Izzy2011: I've been getting a little emotional as Chip's career is ending. I was 7 years old when Chipper made his big league debut with the Braves. My whole life Chipper has been a mainstay in Atlanta. ... I'll most definitely shed a tear when I see my childhood hero play for my beloved Braves for the final time... Respect
• twakavols: Chipper Jones is my favorite baseball player of all time. The whole reason I started playing baseball as little kid was because of Chipper. I wanted to be just like him out there. Thanks for all the memories. I dont want this season to end however. But if it must end may it end in a glorious manner, as anything less spectacular would not live up to the career and life of the man of the hour, thanks for everything Chipper. - Bravesfanforlife
• kinsahd: Chipper is a player of old. He is someone that we think of when we think of baseballs past and yet he is playing in 2012. When all we hear is steriods and money grabs and players fighting with coaches and selfishness...We look at Chipper and say thats how it should be done. It will never be the same watching the Braves without chipper jones. He has been there since I was 8 and no matter what I could always count on number 10 doing something special. You will be missed Chip!
• mastersbk: As a Met fan, I #$%^&* hate this guy. He broke my heart so many times as a kid. And to top it off, he named his kid "Shea" as if to rub it in our faces. But, none of these bitter feelings would have been possible had he not been a great player. And for what it's worth, he let his hitting do the biggest talking.
• theforesighted: Chipper has been the quintessential team player; the ultimate MVP. Of all the players who have taken an at-bat since the day Chipper entered the league, there is not one that I would rather have seen in a Braves uniform. Let us hope that he rides off into the sunset with one more WS ring.
• itsatrap123: As a Yanks fan I remember not wanting to face the Braves in the WS in the late 90s. In 1998 I was thrilled when the Padres knocked out the Braves. Chipper and Andruw were something else back then.



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The Brewers are shopping Zack Greinke around the league, as a likely short-term rental for a competitor. Jayson Stark thinks the Angels, Rangers, Braves and White Sox have the best chance of getting him. What do you think?

• gsa817: "If the Rangers really want him, they can get him. They have the best pieces. Doubt it will happen though. Greinke isn't exactly King Felix or Verlander, so Texas would be dumb to trade their future stars for him. He'll probably end up on the Angels."
• dirkfanman81: "rangers please do not give up prospects for a half year rental. id rather tough it out then basically just throw out good young prospects for him."
• zelts3: "Greinke would be fine in a big market....he's had so many articles and eyes on him lately and his last start vs the Phillies shows he can pitch well with that environment. Greinke is shut-down."
• thesonicbrew: "As a Braves fan I keep thinking back to about 5 years ago when I read one of these rumor articles about Greinke to Atlanta for, a then up-and-coming Jeff Francouer.....and the Braves passed. Ah the irony."
• Big-E28: "The Braves need to get Greinke now. We have the prospects that Milwaukee is looking for. They need a shortstop, then we'll give them Pastornicky. They need a good young arm, then we give them Delgado. Obviously the Braves are willing to trade Delgado as he was going to the Cubs, so what is the problem?"



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