Article content
The Blue Jays may have been swept away in their previous visit to Seattle, but that doesn’t mean the annual invaasion of the team’s fans are taking residency in the Mariners heads.
Article content
The great Western Canadian wave of Jays supporters will descend on the city this weekend for three games, flooding the Seattle saloons and generally bloating the economy for a weekend of baseball and related revelry.
Article content
To capitalize on the influx, the Mariners had stocked a team store at T-Mobile Park with Jays gear to help the thousands of visitors part with their cash. But those plans apparently changed after the foreign gear didn’t sit particularly well with some Mariners players.
Once pictures of the gear went viral on social media, Mariners players weighed in.
Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford retweeted a picture of the Jays gear and commented “Damn, SMH.” M’s pitcher Paul Sewald was even more effusive, tweeting “What the hell is this @MarinersStore,” punctuated with an angry face emoji.
Article content
Team officials removed the items from the store and now will need to shift their financial focus with their visitors from across the border on beer sales.
The Jays, meanwhile, will be looking for a much sharper performance in the three-game series than in their previous visit to the Pacific Northwest. Last season they were swept in a four-game series by the Mariners, days before manager Charlie Montoyo was fired.