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As the Mariners play their first postseason game in Seattle in 21 years, many casual baseball fans across the country may be getting their first glimpse of T-Mobile Park. One of the first things they might notice when the Astros face the Mariners in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, which the Astros lead 2-0, on Saturday afternoon, are Mariners fans who put shoes on their heads when their team strikes.
Have you heard of rally caps? It’s the rally shoe, and it’s a new thing Mariners fans are doing, because baseball fans are a weird, superstitious bunch.
It all started last weekend when the Mariners led the Blue Jays 8-1 in Game 2 of their wildcard series in Toronto. At a watch party at T-Mobile Park, a Mariners fan decided a rally cap wasn’t enough to overcome that kind of deficit, so they tried putting a shoe on their head. The Mariners made four runs in the sixth inning and added four more in the eighth as more fans started showing interest in the newly minted rally shoe.
Ben Cox was first recognized as the first fan to try the rally shoe when he put his Birkenstock on his head, but later graciously paid tribute to another fan he saw doing it in first.
This win from behind put the Mariners in the ALDS, and the rally shoe came with them as a handful of Mariners fans were spotted inside Minute Maid Park when the Astros slammed the door of Seattle in the first two games. The magic of the rally shoe will be put to the test with Lance McCullers on the mound for the Astros as they try to get Houston into their sixth consecutive American League Championship series.