Mariners fall to Blue Jays to put damper on patriotic pregame vibes

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Jul 4, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — The pregame chants were deafening from the sold-out crowd of 45,891 at T-Mobile Park.

USA!! USA!! USA!!

As the U.S. men’s soccer team wrapped up a lengthy, if not overwrought, pregame celebration to throw out the first pitch, the Mariners players joined them on the infield for a picture, complete with American flags.

The chants rang out again.

USA!! USA!! USA!!

The energy and emotion were palpable.

Unfortunately, a familiar and unwanted chant soon replaced the early display of patriotism on the eve of the Fourth of July holiday.

Let’s go Blue Jays!! Let’s go Blue Jays!!

The chant started when Dylan Cease struck out the side in the bottom of the first, got louder when Toronto scored a pair of runs in the third and continued throughout the night, reaching its loudest point after the final out was made in the Blue Jays’ 2-0 win over the Seattle Mariners.

This isn’t the first time where they’ve lost on a night with a sell-out crowd and a big pregame celebration. They’ve been sort of infamous for such flops.

Cease carved up Mariners hitters, tossing seven scoreless innings while allowing three hits with a walk and nine strikeouts.

The hard-throwing right-hander loves to strike out batters, which has left him relatively inefficient in terms of pitch count. But since he only walked one hitter, he was able to get through seven innings.

There might have been an additional walk or two. But since Randy Arozarena, who was batting second, challenged a pair of strike calls in the first inning with nobody on base, losing both, the Mariners were out of challenges on the evening.