Mariners store puts Blue Jays gear on sale ahead of weekend series — and some players aren’t pleased

It’s not unusual to see a sea of Blue Jays fans when the team visits Seattle. What might be a bit more unusual — at least to a couple of Mariners players — is seeing a home team actively selling its opponent’s gear days before a series is even set to begin.

The Seattle Mariners, who hosted the 2023 MLB All-Star Game last week, is dedicating a small rack in their apparel store to Blue Jays merch ahead of this weekend series, which is expected to attract thousands of Jays fans from just across the border in Vancouver and elsewhere in B.C.

Mariners’ fan Twitter account @MarinersMuse shared a photo of the clothing rack with the Jays gear and it immediately went viral. What seemed like a savvy business move to capitalize on the inevitable horde of Jays fans arriving to town in a few days quickly turned into a fiery discourse from Mariners fans and players.

“What the hell is this @MarinersStore,” tweeted Seattle pitcher Paul Sewald.

“Damn smh (shake my head),” Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford chimed in.

A lot of commentators on Twitter mentioned this practice isn’t that uncommon during higher-profile series, but selling the opposing team’s merch days before a series is.

Others speculated that Mariners probably had leftover apparel from last week’s All-Star Game — the store likely would’ve been selling gear from every team — that they decided to put up early.

One Twitter user tweeted that the Mariners team store had already replaced the Blue Jays gear just hours after the original tweet went viral. It’s uncertain whether Blue Jays gear will reappear on Friday when the series kicks off.

The Blue Jays will head to Seattle after wrapping up their series against the San Diego Padres on Thursday. The Mariners mentioned in a news release Tuesday that “limited tickets remain” for this weekend’s series, with almost 40,000 tickets being sold for Friday and Sunday’s home games. The team said less than 500 tickets are available for Saturday’s game.

The Mariners are currently sitting at .500 and third in the AL West division, while the Jays are in the second AL wild-card spot, and 5.5 games behind the East-leading Tampa Bay Rays.

There’s a bit of recent drama heading into this weekend’s series: the Mariners eliminated the Blue Jays in the 2022 AL wild card series in October.

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