HOUSTON — As the Seattle Mariners took on the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series, a fan at the T-Mobile Park watch party in Seattle had an idea.
Down 9-5 in the top of the eighth inning, Ben Cox put a Birkenstock on his head. He was immediately put on the stadium's big screen for everyone to see and do the same.
What followed was a 4-run inning that tied the game before Seattle scored another run in the ninth inning to win and advance to the ALDS.
With that, the shoe rally was born.
"I gotta give credit where credit's due," Cox said. "I saw a Mariners fan put his shoe on his head and the tides turned. So when we were down and looked pretty bleak, I said you know what, I'll put the shoe on the head. So I took the sandal off and put it on my head and it was hilarious."
Now Mariners fans are spreading the #ShoeRally hashtag as the trend sweeps through the 2022 MLB postseason.
Baseball hasn't been kind to Mariners fans. Even if the "Rally Shoe" doesn't last beyond this year, the end of Seattle's 21-year playoff drought has been immortalized. The organization kept Cox's shoe and enshrined it in the Mariners Hall of Fame.
As for Cox? He went home a happy man just minus his left Birkenstock.
"Who cares? It's hilarious," Cox said. "And if it works and people get behind it, then that's everything I could've wanted."