stargazers in my head

Somewhere in the last year I became a baseball fan but I'm not mad about it at all. It's nice, in this dumpster fire that is 2026, to have something wholesome to cheer for. And the nice thing about baseball is that the only injuries come from either athletes overworking their bodies or occasional baseballs going awry. I have opinions on football and how we should not be glorifying a sport that gives its players brain damage as a matter of course. But baseball players don't beat each other up as part of the game.

Specifically, I'm a Mariners fan, because I live in Seattle and I love getting my heart broken. I got swept up in the craze last year and had my heart stomped on when we lost to the Jays but there's always next year, although frankly the Ms aren't doing super great this year. They're either first or second in the AL West at this point but...that's kind of not saying much lol.

Anyway, my favorite Ms player is probably Josh Naylor, our first baseman from Canada. He was on a one year contract last year and I was so insistent we had to sign him for longer after that, and to my great pleasure...well, no one paid attention to me but we did sign him for I think five years. He loves it in Seattle and he has a special bond with the Mariners team dog, Tucker. And June 30 was Best Buds night, where if you bought a special ticket you could get a free t-shirt with pictures of Josh and Tucker's heads on them.

So clearly I really, really wanted this shirt, and Morgan--who has also become a baseball fan--wanted one, because dogs and Josh, and she had some PTO to burn and I had some accrued vacation I'm not likely to use and anyway we went to the baseball game on Tuesday the 30th. We got there really early because in addition to the t-shirt, there was a giveaway of a Cal Raleigh pop figure. Cal is our catcher if you don't know baseball, and he's one of the best players we have. Or has been, he's not doing as well this year but he had an oblique injury that took a while to heal. The giveaway was for the first ten thousand fans, but it was first come first served.

So Tuesday afternoon we took Uber to the park & ride (because at that hour it's too early for the early commuters to have left and we'd never find parking) and took light rail to the stadium and waited in line for a really long time. The line itself was already pretty long but because I have the cheat code of wheelchair we were in the ADA line that had five people ahead of us. And we waited. The people behind us were kind of funny, I think maybe Texas accents but definitely somewhere southern, and one of them kept saying "Oh Mylanta" which...I did not know people actually said in real life.

The gates finally opened and they let us in and we both got pops! pic here on Bluesky Fun fact about the pop: Cal's nickname is Big Dumper, because he has a big butt. I have feelings about how we've given an amazing player a nickname that essentially translates to fat-ass but no one asked me. Anyway, the Big Dumper pop has a big butt and that makes me laugh.

(It's a really nice ass, but the guy's a great player, surely we could have given him a better nickname)

We had to wait a little to get up to the main concourse because the elevators didn't work until 5:10pm but then we went up and got our t-shirts and changed into them, then parked my chair with guest services and got food and watched the game. It was an amazing game to watch - final score was 8-3, I think, but it was all small ball! All base hits, no home runs. We would have loved to see a home run, but small ball is exciting.

After the game we stopped in the team store because I really want a Naylor jersey but the one I liked was $200 and that's a bit rich for my budget right now so we just got the Mariners pride t-shirts and headed home. I might save up for it or the next time I go I might look for a plain green Mariners jersey. I don't really want a white jersey because I'm me, but it's hard to find the green ones and I've been told the city connect stuff (blue) is not great quality. The Naylor one I liked was the Steelhead version, but it's just too much right now.

The nice thing was that by stopping in the team store and waiting a bit we missed most of the crush going home and were able to get on the train without issue.

One down side to the night: Morgan lost her debit card and for some reason when I logged into our bank app only my card was showing so we couldn't lock hers or report it as lost. She went to the bank the next morning and sorted it all out though and has a new one on the way. And we checked transactions before she went to the bank, no one had used her card.

( accessibility notes on T-Mobile Park )

Anyway, Morgan and I had such a good time we decided we're going to go again for our anniversary. Our actual anniversary is a Friday night, but Friday nights are fireworks nights and becc and fireworks Do Not Mix. Plus the day after our anniversary there's a Bryan Woo pop giveaway. (Woo is one of our starting pitchers, also he's damned attractive. Yes, I'm very ace, it's purely aesthetic attraction.) So we're going to go to the game on Sept 5 and get Bryan Woo pops hopefully and have a great time.

Dad and I usually go see the Ms play the Yankees every year but this year the Ms vs Yankees games were like the first series after opening and the weather wasn't great plus I didn't get my act together to get tickets in time. So instead we're going to the Aug 4 game to see the Ms play the Detroit Tigers. It's also Bark in the Park night so we'll be able to see all the doggos. There's something amusingly appropriate in going to see this game on August 4 because 8/4 was my grandmother's birthday and she lived in Michigan most of her life. She'd be 103 this year, I guess. Part of me is still a little surprised she didn't make it to 100, I was pretty sure after her 90th birthday we'd be celebrating her 100th, but she passed at 96. (I, uh, don't really miss her? I loved her but calling my grandmother a piece of work is understating it.)

Next year if Morgan and I have the money we might look into a flex season pass or something. The biggest issue we have with the baseball games is Rook care. We can get relatively cheap tickets for the games, but we have to board her and that is not cheap. But she's worth it.