Ryan Bliss lives ‘dream’ 10 years after tweet at Seattle Mariners

Jun 1, 2024, 10:09 AM

Seattle Mariners second baseman Ryan Bliss...

Ryan Bliss of the Seattle Mariners during a 2024 game. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

One of the feel-good stories in all of baseball this season was Monday night’s major league debut for Seattle Mariners second baseman Ryan Bliss.

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Ten years ago – when Bliss was a freshman at Troup County High School in LaGrange, Georgia – Bliss responded to a social media post from the Mariners. The team posted a photo from insider T-Mobile Park, then Safeco Field, with the field partially illuminated that read, “The diamond is it up for the holidays. #ILoveSafeco Field.”

Bliss, who just three days away from turning 15 years old, replied with: “My dream” and “one day.” You can see the posts below.

@Mariners @MLB my dream 😁 one day ✈️⚾️

— Ryan Bliss (@ribliss2) December 11, 2014

Bliss got to live out his dream Monday when he made his MLB debut against the Houston Astros on that very same field. The rookie joined Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Thursday to discuss the post, his debut and more.

“It’s been amazing to debut this week, especially against the Astros,” Bliss said. “So it meant a lot that I was able to help this team win a series against these guys. It’s a big divisional rivalry. So it’s been good.”

So what’s the story behind the 10-year-old tweet?

“I was just into MLB, I was into baseball, wasn’t a Mariners fan, but was just scrolling through and I saw T-Mobile (Park), and I looked more into (the ballpark),” Bliss said. “I was like, ‘This is a really beautiful stadium.’ (So I) tweeted that I would like to play there one day, and look at me now. So that’s the whole back story. It’s been an awesome story.

“When I saw the tweet and saw how it occurred, it didn’t really hit me until I got home that night after the debut,” Bliss said. “I was like, ‘Wow. My dream actually came true.’ It’s one of the things that I can’t fathom, but it’s been a great experience.”

Adding to the experience was the fact that Bliss’ parents and girlfriend were in town for his debut. Monday night’s broadcast on ROOT Sports shared that they had been in town for the weekend to watch Bliss play with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. The family was scheduled to fly back home Monday, but they canceled those plans when Bliss found out Sunday that he was getting called up to the major leagues the next day.

“It was everything that we’ve all dreamed of, we’ve all talked about, we’ve all worked for – all of us,” Bliss said. “And just to have them here, have them in Seattle, have them already up here and able to just make the commute with me over here, it was a blessing, something I’ll never forget. It was a great moment.”

Big moments early

Bliss’ first series with Seattle came against once of the team’s biggest rivals, and the 24 year old was thrust right into some high-leverage situations. One of those moments came during the eighth inning of Tuesday’s comeback 4-2 victory. Bliss was called upon to lay down a bunt after Mitch Haniger’s leadoff double with the Mariners trailing 2-1. Bliss couldn’t get the bunt down and fell behind 0-2, but battled back to work a walk reliever Ryan Pressly. He came around to score the decisive run on Julio Rodríguez’s infield single.

“I just think it has to go back to something I’ve been working on just leading back to spring training, finding my identity and who I am as a player, and I just trusted what I do,” Bliss said. “And what I want to do is get on base however that is. … I didn’t want to get too big, and I just wanted to stay within myself and help the team win.”

Listen to the full interview at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-6 p.m. for find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.