The story behind Mariners’ Andrés Muñoz taking his cat on road trips

Not including spring training, the Seattle Mariners’ players and coaching staff spend nearly 90 days on the road each season.

Five key questions the Mariners face down the stretch

Many bring items from home to make life on the road more comfortable. For some, it’s a pillow. Others bring noise machines to help sleep. Many travel with video games, and there has been a guitar that has accumulated miles as well. But the most unique item comes with All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz.

“Oh, my cat,” he answered when asked about the little something extra he brings from home.

Yes, Andrés Muñoz travels with his cat.

“The name of my cat is Matilda,” he continued. “She has traveled with me almost all the time. Every time my wife is coming on the road trips, we bring our cat. We don’t like to leave her with somebody else.”

(Photo provided by the Muñoz family)

Wives of players often fly separately to meet the team in the cities they travel to. In the case of Muñoz’s wife Wendy, she has company with Matilda making the trips as well in her carry-on cat carrier.

With the ordeals Matilda has already faced, it is perhaps understandable that Andrés and Wendy would not want to leave her behind. Matilda is a rescue cat whose life, if not for the Muñoz family, would be grim. The cat lived near Andrés’ brother but had been left behind when her owners separated. A friend was supposed to take care of her but did little more than throw her food for the better part of two years.

“They didn’t take care of anything,” Muñoz said. “They were just throwing her food. She was dirty. She was in a really bad condition.”

The more Munoz heard about the cat, the more he knew he needed to do something. Having grown up surrounded by many animals in the farming community of Los Mochis, Mexico, he has strong feelings about how they should be treated. He made the decision they were going to rescue Matilda.

“We don’t like to see cats or dogs or whatever animal suffering. If you buy or if you rescue a cat, you have to take care of it,” he said. “And that was the most important thing for for me, just to take care of that cat.”

After being taken from the situation she was in, Matilda spent a month in veterinary care.

“One month later she was with us,” he said. “Now she’s here, travels to a lot of places, and now she have a lot of food. And now she has the most important thing that is love. I think that was good to see her happy. Sometimes I say she’s mad because she travels a lot but we know that it is about having a lot better life than she used to have.”

While saying he likes all animals, dogs included, it is clear Muñoz is a cat person.

“I know a lot of people think that they are on on their own, but most of the time they try to be with you all the time,” he said. “If she doesn’t see me for 10 days or whatever, I come back and she’s so friendly, so affectionate. So it’s really good to see of that kind of response from the cat that she’s living a good life.”

Thanks to Andrés and Wendy Muñoz, Matilda is living a big league life.

Listen to the Shannon Drayer’s conversation with Andrés Muñoz from the Mariners Radio Network pregame show in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Mariners Notebook: Justin Turner doesn’t miss time after HBP
• The ‘animated’ Víctor Robles has been Mariners’ biggest pickup
• The impact Justin Turner can provide Mariners goes beyond his bat
• Seattle’s No. 1 prospect has landed with the Everett AquaSox
• Seattle Mariners Insider: Adjustments pay off for Mitch Haniger

Follow @shannondrayer