Mariners deny wrongdoing after Blue Jays' bizarre first pitch accusations

There's always been a natural rivalry between the Mariners and Blue Jays, fueled by both franchises beginning play in 1977 and Seattle's proximity to the border. Games between the two clubs at T-Mobile Park in particular can be feisty affairs, due to all the Canadian fans who 'invade' the ballpark. As such, the latest comments by Jays manager John Schneider will do little to calm relations between two fanbases which don't exactly need much encouragement.

The Mariners and their fans are in the ascendancy, after taking two out of three games from the home weekend series versus the Blue Jays. Sure, it doesn't lessen the sting of losing last season's ALCS in heartbreaking fashion, but it does still matter as the M's attempt to (at least) return to the same stage in 2026. On the other side however, Schneider felt aggrieved after losing Sunday's rubber match, claiming the Blue Jays were given some bad intel:

The Mariners have vehemently denied providing any incorrect information. As per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet in Canada, due to the unusual 2:05 pm PT Peacock Game start time, the M's say they first sent the Blue Jays all times and then followed up with team officials, too, to ensure they knew the day’s schedule. Davidi goes on to add it's unclear where the miscommunication on anthem start times happened.

John Schneier's excuse doesn't add up for a couple of reasons

As far as we're concerned, Schneider's comments don't add up. The start for Sunday's game was known ahead of time anyway, so some common sense would have easily helped in determining when the anthem was. However, if the Blue Jays manager wants to stick to his guns, that's a serious accusation he's making against the Mariners about being given incorrect information.

Interestingly, as much as there's no love lost between the two clubs, Blue Jays fans have been quick to criticize Schneider on social media. He has effectively been accused of making the latest in a number of poor excuses for the team's subpar form this season. The reality is that, despite taking the Jays to the verge of winning the World Series last year, he has not been a very popular manager during his time on Toronto.

What makes this particular excuse poor, is that Trey Yesavage actually had a tremendous outing on Sunday. The young ace went 6.0 innings and only gave up three hits, a couple of walks and two earned runs, while striking out seven. In addition, the Blue Jays lineup did little anyway, only managing three hits, two walks and no runs on the day.

Heck, if Schneider really had to try and make an excuse involving claims of misinformation, he should have instead found a way to blame it for why his players' bats were so cold! In any event, it will be interesting to see how this affects trust between the two clubs when they meet in future. Although if the Blue Jays continue playing as they have been, Schneider might not still be around whenever the Mariners and Blue Jays next meet.

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