5/15/26 — Padres vs Mariners
Leo and I arrived at T-Mobile Park a little earlier than usual. Neither of us were too keen on the clear Hello Kitty crossbody bags, but a couple of Nadia’s friends are visiting from out of town and were interested. So we figured, why not. We spent a little time behind a pleasant patriarchal family gathering (as pleasant a patriarchal gathering could be, possibly) of Padres fans. The youngest one, about Leo’s age, would shout, “Go Padres!” to passersby in brown and gold who’d fist bump or “woo” back.
When we got to our seats, a nice family behind us was also settling in, draping out their warm Padres blanket on an unusually cold evening in mid-May. I noticed Padres colors and gear everywhere around us. The old neon city connects, retro navy bombers, oversized hoodies, even a jewel-studded SD necklace worn by one of the younger fans in the family ahead of us. In my (admittedly short) Mariners history, I haven’t quite experienced a more visible fan base at T-Mobile Park before.
Yet still, our Padres neighbors were very polite. Aside from a few (slightly drunk) “let’s go padres” a few sections away — to which Leo would try to out-yell them with “Mariners” — they were cordial and respectful away fans. I did like the family behind us quite a bit. They would hold their breath when we got runners in scoring position or loaded the bases, and then let out a sign of relief when we didn’t push runners through. After the final out, one of them gave a coy “I was never worried” with a nervous chuckle. They would cheer for a clutch defensive Padre play and give a nod when the Ms brought their own.
Despite being a tense, well-pitched game throughout, it was a frustrating night for the Mariners. Seven hits, ten runners left on base, and just one hit in seven chances with runners in scoring position. It also felt like one of those nights where the Mariners’ constant matchup tinkering became impossible not to notice in real time. I say this, but our platoon bats against left handed pitching actually held up fairly well against Mason Miller along with the rest of the team. We saw a lot of his stuff and got on base against a pitcher most teams are simply trying to survive. Couldn’t score, though.
There really does seem to be a bit of mutual respect between both the teams and their fans. I saw Rodríguez and Tatis Jr. hugging it out during stretches before the game. There were multiple batters in the lineup where I’d turn to Leo and say, “This guy can hit; Hancock should be careful.” Not that Leo needed much warning anyway; the Padres are probably his favorite National League team.
To Hancock's credit, he had a solid outing, allowing only one run in six innings. He struck out Jackson Merrill at the top of the order 3 times. Our pitching held up well against a potent San Diego lineup, making the loss all the more painful to bear.
On the walk back to the train, Leo was a bit more quiet than usual. When asked what’s wrong, he answered, “It’s tough being in our home stadium, seeing so many Padres fans cheering,” and wasn’t it the truth. Nothing a little sweets and baseball bloopers on the ride home couldn’t fix though.
Final: Padres 2, Mariners 0
Seats: Section 104, row 23 (JRod squad front row)
Memory: Visiting fanbases, Leo cuddles