John Oliver Offers to Blindly Rebrand MiLB Teams on HBO's 'Last Week Tonight'

To cap off Sunday night's episode of "Last Week Tonight," John Oliver urged minor league baseball teams to hand over their branding to his staff of Emmy-winning writers.

Sam Connon | May 5, 2025

John Oliver, host of ‘Last Week Tonight,' accepts the award for outstanding scripted variety series at the 76th Emmy Awards. / Jack Gruber/USA TODAY / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Minor league baseball often lives in the shadows, outside of viral clips, the short stays of top prospects and the occasional promotional stunts that hit it big.

But Sunday night, the teams so regularly overlooked by the national media got their time in the spotlight from an unexpected outlet.

The most recent episode of the Emmy-winning HBO comedy series "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" was devoted mostly to its main story about mass deportations from the United States. To close out the show, though, Oliver had an 11-minute section focused on the wild world of minor league baseball.

Most of the segment was spent celebrating the gimmicks and mishaps that give MiLB so much character, but Oliver wasn't completely satisfied with every team's efforts.

"My only real criticism is that some minor league teams just aren't really pulling their weight, as some are just boringly named after their major league affiliate like the Worcester Red Sox or the Iowa Cubs," Oliver said. "Others are just first-thought choices like the Buffalo Bisons and the St. Paul Saints, which is pretty disappointing. Because in not embracing the glorious eccentricity the magnificent league they belong to, they're kind of leaving money on the table."

So, as is often the case with Oliver's show, he swooped in with an over-the-top proposal to remake the minors in his own image.

"We are willing to use all of our resources and stupidity to give one minor league baseball team a total rebrand," Oliver said. "We will give you a new team name, a new mascot, we will even throw you a theme night. It will be personalized, it will be personalized and it will be bespoke. I promise, we will put just as much time, energy and research into this as we do exposing the dark underbelly of America's criminal justice system – arguably more. And we will do this in the spirit of your team, city and the league to which you belong."

Oliver had a few conditions, however. Teams that are interested in his offer are not allowed to ask any questions or give any notes if they agree to a rebrand, and they are required to follow through with what the show gives them.

As he made his way over to a miniature baseball stadium set in his studio in New York, Oliver prompted teams to reach out at johnoliver@buntstuff.com. It remains to be seen which clubs will make a play for a rebrand, if any, and how long it will take to implement said rebrand.

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Published May 5, 2025|Modified May 5, 2025

SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a staff writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and other "On SI'' baseball sites. He previously covered UCLA Athletics for “UCLA on SI’’ and won awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for “New England Patriots on SI’’ and was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Follow Sam on Twitter @SamConnon.

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