The Seattle Mariners unveiled a new addition during Wednesday afternoon’s series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers.
It was not a veteran bat to help jump-start a .228 team batting average, ranked 25th in MLB, The M’s took a less conventional, more mythological approach.
After Julio Rodriguez connected in the third inning on his fourth home run of the season, teammates greeted him with MLB’s newest celebratory prop: the trident. Rodriguez happily accepted the prize as he carried it through the dugout, even posing momentarily for a picture as its inaugural honoree.
The symbol hearkens back to the team’s original logo, an upside-down trident that formed the letter “M.” Some, however, consider Poseidon’s three-pronged pitchfork of oceanic power to be bad luck when inverted. Mariners fans can point to 14 consecutive losing seasons from 1977-1990 as evidence to support this claim.
Call it superstitious, but the team ditched the logo after the 1986 season. The Mariners won a then franchise-best 78 games in 1987, the same year they drafted some guy named Ken Griffey Jr.
The retro caps found their way back to spring training in 2017 because someone thought it was a good idea to begin a 162-game season by once again tempting a mythological curse. That team finished 23 games out of first place and tied a major league record for most pitchers used in a season, due mostly to injuries.
And, of course, the longest active playoff drought in all four U.S. major sports belonged to the Mariners until last season. These Mariners hope the trident, now right side up, can spark a turnaround to a slow start in 2023.
After Rodriguez’s home run, the Brewers answered with five runs of their own and a series sweep. The M’s fell to 8-11 and 0-1 in the revamped trident era.
Frustrated fans may cling to the memory of a season ago, when the team fell 10 games below .500 on June 19 before a 14-game win streak ignited a push to the postseason.
Mariners fans hope the trident provides a bolt of energy to kick-start another march to October.
