Mariners vote to postpone game against Padres in protest
Aug 26, 2020, 4:23 PM | Updated: 8:20 pm
The Mariners' second game at PETCO Park against the Padres was postponed Wednesday. (Getty)
(Getty)
The second game of the Seattle Mariners’ series in San Diego against the Padres has been postponed, joining a list of games that won’t be played Wednesday in protest of racial injustice.
The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader of seven-inning games beginning at 12:10 p.m. Thursday.
A second local pro team had a game called off later Wednesday evening. Prior to the Seattle Sounders’ scheduled 8 p.m. match against the Los Angeles Galaxy, the MLS announced that all games in the league that had yet to start for the night would be postponed.
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 27, 2020
Mariners player Dee Gordon shared a statement on his Twitter account late Wednesday announcing the team’s decision, which he said was a unanimous vote not to play, about 84 minutes before first pitch was scheduled at 6:10 p.m.
There are serious issues in this country. For me, and for many of my teammates, the injustices, violence, death and systemic racism is deeply personal. This is impacting not only my community, but very directly my family and friends. Our team voted unanimously not to play tonight
— Dee Gordon (@FlashGJr) August 26, 2020
Instead of watching us, we hope people will focus on the things more important than sports that are happening.
– Dee Strange-Gordon
— Dee Gordon (@FlashGJr) August 26, 2020
Mariners pitcher Justin Dunn also shared a drawing depicting Seattle’s black players wearing shirts stating “BLACK LIVES MATTER,” writing in the tweet “Enough is enough” along with an emoji of a fist and a #BLM hashtag.
The posts by Gordon and Dunn were retweeted by the official Mariners Twitter account, which posted a statement of its own after 5 p.m.
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 27, 2020
The Padres also released a statement.
The entire NBA playoffs schedule for Wednesday was called off after the Milwaukee Bucks didn’t take the court for a first-round game against the Orlando Magic. The Bucks made the decision in light of the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a police officer in Kenosha, Wis., on Sunday night. Milwaukee is roughly 40 miles from Kenosha.
Shortly after the NBA’s games were called off Wednesday afternoon, the Milwaukee Brewers decided to postpone their game with the Cincinnati Reds. ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan then reported that other MLB teams were considering not playing Wednesday, noting that one such team was the Mariners, who have the highest number of Black players on their roster in baseball.
Following the cancellation of the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds game tonight, more teams are discussing the possibility of not playing, sources tell ESPN. Among those currently discussing it: the Seattle Mariners, who have the most Black players of any team in MLB.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 26, 2020
Around the time Mariners manager Scott Servais was scheduled to talk to media members at 3:40 p.m., the team announced that his availability would be rescheduled, and Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser shared a photo from the press box at San Diego’s PETCO Park of Servais meeting with Padres manager Jayce Tingler on the field.
Acee tweeted that a small group of Mariners players then met with a small group of Padres players, after which he reported that Mariners players had voted not to play Wednesday.
At 4:11 p.m. Pacific, Passan tweeted that the Mariners-Padres game had been called off.
The Mariners began the season with a group of Black players kneeling prior to the national anthem on opening day in Houston, then standing with a raised fist during the anthem, which they have continued in following games. Members of the team have regularly worn shirts during batting practice with messages in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
