Shots fired by former Blue Jays star is a call to action for Mariners fans

Ahead of the upcoming ALCS showdowns between the Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays in Seattle, former Blue Jays outfielder Vernon Wells took shots at the crowd at T-Mobile Park.

"Canada, how do you feel about potentially having seven home games this series?!?" Wells posted to his X account.

Wells' comments reflect a typical series in Seattle between the Blue Jays and Mariners. In the regular season, Blue Jays fans often flock to Seattle in droves to root on their team. That tends to be the case because there is a large group of Blue Jay fans living just north of the border in Canada, mostly on Victoria Island and in Vancouver.

Will Blue Jays fans overwhelm T-Mobile Park in the ALCS?

Why they all root for Toronto, a team on the opposite side of the continent, instead of Seattle, a team just a few hours south, is another conversation altogether. But for whatever reason, thousands of Canadians usually make the trip to Seattle, which sometimes makes Mariners games feel like home games for the Blue Jays. During years when the Mariners are bad, it's not even surprising to see a majority of Jays fans at the park.

However, that's probably not going to happen in the postseason. While there will be some Jays fans in attendance, the majority of fans in Seattle on Wednesday, Thursday, and potentially Friday for ALCS Games 3, 4 and 5 should be rocking Mariners colors.

That's because in the regular season, Canadians have months in advance to plan a trip down, request time off work, book hotels, and purchase tickets. In the postseason, they've had all of one week. How many fans in Vancouver are going to be able to get the time off to come to Seattle on a Wednesday or Thursday, one week in advance? Probably not many.

Plus, the tickets were sold out instantly, and that was before Toronto had defeated the Yankees to move on to the ALCS. It was also before the Mariners had defeated the Tigers to move on to the ALCS. Obviously, some Blue Jays fans probably bought the tickets and took the risk, but most probably would have waited until they knew what the matchup was going to be, and by then, it was too late.

So while Toronto should have some fans in attendance, it probably won't be many, and it definitely will not be a "home game," as Wells put it.