Mariners players criticize team for selling Blue Jays gear in stadium store

There certainly won’t be a shortage of Toronto Blue Jays merchandise for sale when Canadians travel south of the border to Seattle this weekend.

T-Mobile Park, the Seattle Mariners’ home stadium, will play host to the Blue Jays for a three-game series from July 21-23 — an annual matchup that typically draws waves of fans from the B.C. area. And this season’s meeting shouldn’t be any different.

If fans visit the Mariners team shop, however, they will notice an entire clothing section — usually stocked with Seattle gear — has been replaced with Blue Jays apparel.

Appealing to the visiting crowd isn’t a new tradition. Most organizations jump at the chance to make a quick buck when an opponent has a large fan base travelling to its building.

Not many typically clear out a whole unit like the Mariners have done, though. But, then again, the number of Blue Jays fans that travel to the Pacific Northwest is more considerable than most.

Still, that didn’t stop some — including some Mariners players — from criticizing the team for openly allowing the Canadian takeover to bleed into their team store.

Others, meanwhile, joked that the extra revenue could boost Seattle’s odds of signing two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani to a historic free-agent contract next winter.

Either way, the energy level at T-Mobile Park is destined to be electric once again as Blue Jays and Mariners fans battle for superiority in the crowd while rooting for their respective teams, transforming it into a playoff-esque atmosphere.

The ballpark is sure to resemble a mixture of blue and green across the three-game set, during which Toronto will look to improve its 33-51 all-time record at T-Mobile Park/Safeco Field.

The Blue Jays were swept by the Mariners on last season’s trip, leading to former manager Charlie Montoyo’s firing just a few days later.