I went to this Wednesday afternoon game at T-Mobile Park in Seattle to get my first Mariners game in for the season, and to take in the massive star power:
- The amazing generational talent Shohei Ohtani pitching for the Angels
- Future Hall-of-Famer Mike Trout, who I had not seen play before
- Julio Rodríguez (2022 Rookie of the Year) of the Mariners early in his second season
It was a great time all around, even though the Mariners lost 4-3. Weather was good, just a little chilly but not bad. I sat in one of my favorite parts of the park: Section 328, in the upper level but low in the section in Row 4, which offers a great overall view of the field plus the southern end of downtown.
![View of a baseball stadium](https://samhamm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/70241847701__F8D83E93-3E8F-4A17-9A29-932266B5BD70-1-768x1024.jpeg)
One thing I love about where I live is that I can go to games without needing to take the car out of the garage, so no screwing around with traffic or parking! I can walk (35minutes) or get a free Metro shuttle (5-10 minutes) to the dock for the King County Water Taxi ($5.75), and then have a lovely scenic ride across Elliott Bay to downtown. From there it is maybe a 15-minute walk to the stadium.
This was the view back toward West Seattle:
![View of West Seattle from the King County Water Taxi](https://samhamm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/70241471803__9C731F68-8336-4D03-A3ED-451D260F7A96-1-1024x768.jpeg)
Looking the other direction, toward the south end of downtown:
![View of south end of Seattle downtown from a boat](https://samhamm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/70241488470__93213B31-0CD6-4E5B-A25C-FB0C2AE53CE4-1-1024x768.jpeg)
Again, the star power in this game was off the hook. Here’s Ohtani delivering a pitch to Julio in the bottom of the first inning:
![Baseball game with Shohei Otani pitching to Julio Rodríguez](https://samhamm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/70241899569__F69DD6ED-F987-4F47-A78C-F5B67526DCA5-1-768x1024.jpeg)
Of course, being at a baseball game, snacks were a necessity!
![Sam with a bag of Cracker Jack](https://samhamm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/70242439559__D67C1396-82A1-43C2-BF35-40847A6E84DC-1-768x1024.jpeg)
In the last few innings of the game I set out on foot to explore the stadium and see what was new this season. This was the first time I had seen the Julio photo booth, so of course:
![Sam in the Julio Rodríguez photo booth](https://samhamm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/70242825464__CF587C92-223A-4EED-890F-6D2907A67068-1-1024x768.jpeg)
All in all, an enjoyable afternoon. The Mariners have a few more of these “businessman special” (forgive the gendered antiquated term for weekday day games) games this season and I’ll definitely want to go again.
After the game, I walked back to the water taxi and walked home. Pretty great to go to a game and be home before 6pm.
This was also the first game I had been to with the new pitch clock and other game-speed-up rules, and the accelerated pace was noticeable in a pleasant way. I grew up playing baseball every summer from ages 5-20, so the pacing is innate for me, and this felt good.