Mariners rally shoes, explained: The legend of Seattle's new comeback symbol

Edward Sutelan

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Mariners rally shoes, explained: The legend of Seattle's new comeback symbol image

The Mariners trailed the Blue Jays by seven runs at one point in the second game of their Wild Card Series on Saturday. The Blue Jays' win probability was as high as 99.1 percent.

That didn't seem to matter. Seattle came all the way back, scoring nine runs over the final four innings to beat Toronto 10-9 and sweep the best-of-three series on the road as it continued its remarkable season.

In the midst of the comeback, fans might have noticed an odd symbol making the rounds across social media: a shoe. A rally shoe, to be exact. It got to the point that T-Mobile Park, the home of the Mariners and host of a massive Seattle watch party, sent out instructions to fans to bring out the shoes.

Here's how footwear became the latest rally symbol alongside the rally monkey and rally squirrel:

MORE: Inside the Mariners' historic Game 2 comeback

Mariners' rally shoe, explained

Didn't see this during the regular season? You're not the only one. No one did. That's because this rally shoe trend started during Game 2.

In the T-Mobile Park watch party, a fan was placed on the Jumbotron wearing a shoe on his head as the Mariners trailed by four runs heading into the top of the eighth inning. Once the Mariners had tied the game, the chants of "Rally shoe" began.

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Paul Rivera of KOMO News in Seattle went to the fan with the now-legendary shoe and asked about the process.

"The rally shoe is feeling great," the fan said. "It was mostly a joke to start, but the base hits started dropping and they were great."

As the Seattle runs continued to pile up, so, too, did shoes on heads.

According to The Seattle Times, the shoes were Birkenstocks that belong to the fan's wife. They are now on their way to the Mariners Hall of Fame.

As long as the Mariners continue their postseason run, expect to see plenty of the rally shoe.

Edward Sutelan

Edward Sutelan Photo

Edward Sutelan joined The Sporting News in 2021 after covering high school sports for PennLive. Edward graduated from The Ohio State University in 2019, where he gained experience covering the baseball, football and basketball teams. Edward also spent time working for The Columbus Dispatch and Cape Cod Times.