Seattle Mariners: 3 reasons why bringing back James Paxton makes sense

He’s a fan favorite

Paxton had a great 6 year run in Seattle and took over the “Ace” title from Felix Hernandez during his time with the Mariners. He also had his own fan section created to rival King Felix’s King’s Court. While the King had his court where fans would dress up in royal costumes, wear yellow, and held up “K” signs while chanting the letter on pitches with 2 strikes, the Canadian born Paxton, nicknamed “The Big Maple,” had his grove where fans would wear blue and held up “Eh” signs while chanting the popular Canuck saying on pitches with 2 strikes.

Mariners fans would certainly welcome back The Big Maple with open arms and I would have to believe that the Maple Grove would return as well. Paxton was also a fan favorite for the large minority of Canadian baseball fans who are Mariners fans, as opposed to Blue Jays fans. Paxton is from the small town of Ladner, Canada which is outside of Vancouver.

Interestingly enough for the Canadian, he was drafted by the only Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays, but then elected to return to college before being drafted a year later by the popular, in western Canada, Mariners.