Lowriders, piñatas, margaritas and the best new Minor League Baseball alter egos
Last year, Minor League Baseball introduced a new idea that turned a league that already loved its alter egos into a league where it was impossible to own all the cool hats.
The Copa de la Diversión series — which translates to “The Fun Cup” — was a way for baseball to pay homage to the game’s Latino influence and fans, as dozens of teams developed fun and colorful alter egos. We saw teams centered around Mariachis, Cucuys and Flying Chanclas, who would play a handful of games each year.
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The whole thing was so cool that it deserved a sequel. MILB on Monday announced a total of 72 teams that were getting Copa de la Diversión alter egos for 2019, some old favorites, like those flying flip-flops and other new ones that seem ripe for retweets in the Twitter age.
There were monsters and margaritas, lowriders and elotes with legs and bats. Check out the full rundown of teams and logos, but scroll down for some of our faves.
El Paso Margaritas
Let’s just start with the one that might get the most attention. The El Paso Triple-A team, which already calls itself the Chihuahuas in every day life, shook things up by calling itself the Margaritas. That sure calls for a toast.

The unis 👀 #Salud #MiLBesDivertido pic.twitter.com/YqXmJCgrLq
— El Paso Margaritas (@epchihuahuas) March 18, 2019
Clinton Elotes
Clinton, Iowa, is not exactly L.A. when it comes to Mexican street food, but that didn’t stop the Clinton Lumberkings from rebranding themselves as the Clinton Elotes in honor of the neighborhood elote man. And, I guess, all the corn fields out in Iowa.

Introducing the Elotes! We will be known as the Elotes for EVERY Sunday home game and select road games in 2019! Tickets, jerseys, caps, and T-Shirts are on sale online and in store now! Head to https://t.co/8k2UoMaPyn for more info! #MiLBesDivertido pic.twitter.com/Xo7yLZlgou
— Clinton LumberKings (@LumberKings) March 18, 2019
Fresno Lowriders
It may not be a surprise that the team that originated all these funky rebrands has one of the smoothest entries. The Fresno Grizzlies, who many years ago decided to play Tuesday games as the Fresno Tacos, are hitting that same bit of culture by playing as the Fresno Lowriders. For bonus points, they’re having a lowrider car show on Father’s Day weekend, when they’ll debut their Lowriders uniforms.

Lowriders de Fresno to spotlight positive, family-friendly role lowriding plays in Central California culture at four home games this season (June 15-16 & July 27-28, "Lowriders Weekend"). Car shows and MORE: https://t.co/ylgts389W4#MiLBesDivertido 💜 ☸️ #CopaDeLaDiversion pic.twitter.com/3hZSDrPca4
— Lowriders de Fresno (@FresnoGrizzlies) March 18, 2019
Erie Piñatas
This one is simple but brilliant — you swing a bat and try to get candy out of a piñata, so it makes a ton of sense for baseball. Credit to the Erie Seawolves for this name plus the colorful and fun cap.

Today, we unveiled our identity for the Copa de la Diversión initiative! Meet the Erie Piñatas
Story: https://t.co/7V5HJtqjXD #MiLBesDivertido pic.twitter.com/0cmFN38T6W— Erie SeaWolves (@erie_seawolves) March 18, 2019
Hickory Llamas
The Hickory Crawdads are becoming the Hickory Llamas and we could walk through why that sort of makes sense for Hickory, but that’s not the important thing. Look how cool and colorful that cap is. (Also: Is that Llama smoking hookah?)

Here’s another look at the uniforms for our Copa games as Las Llamas de Hickory #JoinTheHerd #milbesdivertido pic.twitter.com/pu88pJ5XF8
— Hickory Crawdads (@HickoryCrawdads) March 18, 2019
Nashville Vihuelas
Nashville is all about music, so the Nashville Sounds are becoming the Nashville Vihuelas, a tribute to the higher-pitched Mexican guitar.

Introducing: Vihuelas de Nashville!
We will be taking on our new identity as part of Copa de la Diversión May 3-5.
All the info: https://t.co/mfP5gQdGqM#MiLBesDivertido pic.twitter.com/IfyZxhK31A— Nashville Sounds (@nashvillesounds) March 18, 2019
Richmond Ardillas Voladoras
Extra points for the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ name sounding pretty cool in Spanish. Extra extra points for its logo looking like a squirrel that is also a lucha libre wrestler.

See these threads take the field every Friday night. 🧢🧢🧢
Ver estos trapos, tomar el campo cada viernes por la noche. #MiLBesDivertidohttps://t.co/UM1Sxp73ZA pic.twitter.com/AeI2SpUyOo— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) March 18, 2019
Charleston Perros Santos
The Charleston team is normally the Riverdogs, but here they get a Dia De Los Muertos look and a name that translates to Holy Dogs.

Our Copa de la Diversíon identity.... Perros Santos de Charleston 😎
📰: https://t.co/A8CgTu83cn
🎟: https://t.co/u7tutgom2e #MiLBesDivertido pic.twitter.com/Uyo9eO8RHA— Charleston RiverDogs (@ChasRiverDogs) March 18, 2019
Delmarva Gallos
The Delmarva Shorebirds become the Gallos (not Joey Gallo), a reference to the poultry industry in Maryland. But it’s also just great old-baseball logo work, if you ask me.

We're proud to join the #MiLBesDivertido initiatives for 2019 and become the Los Gallos de Delmarva for three home games this season! 6/9, 7/14, & 8/11! #VolarJuntos pic.twitter.com/wdvtMh5xVK
— Delmarva Shorebirds (@shorebirds) March 18, 2019
Mal de Ojo de Durham
Here’s one that may keep you up at night: The Durham Bulls are becoming Mal de Ojo, or “the evil eye.” The artwork is a scary looking one-eyed bull. Looks great on a baseball cap, though.

Mal de Ojo is a curse believed to be cast by a glare having the ability to cause bad luck or misfortune.
Mal de Ojo es una maldición que se transmite por una mirada y causa mala suerte o desgracia. #MiLBesDivertido
Presentando Mal de Ojo de Durham: https://t.co/urvAQsRk9v pic.twitter.com/b4si9GYgHs— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) March 18, 2019
The rest of the Copa de la Diversión teams
That was only my 10 favorites among the 72 teams. Here is all of them, put together in one easy-to-watch video by Minor League Baseball. Which one do you dig?
72 teams are now chasing the 2019 Copa de la Diversión!
¡Ahora 72 equipos están a la carrera por la Copa de la Diversión 2019!
➡️ https://t.co/o4w9WnYnKK #MiLBesDivertido pic.twitter.com/SU54wOTYGC— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) March 18, 2019
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