A Diamondbacks Reliever Accidentally Got on the Mariners’ Team Bus

A little-known secret about the way professional sports teams travel is that, even though their expense accounts are relatively large, the number of hotels players frequent on the road is not.

To a degree, it makes sense: Outside of a handful of large-market cities, the number of four- and five-star hotel options available for certain road trips might be countable on one hand. Even in the most cosmopolitan of major league markets, a team’s traveling secretary might find a fancy hotel with good rates that the players like, then simply book it every time they return.

So it was that the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks found themselves at the same hotel this week with both teams visiting San Francisco — the Diamondbacks to play the Giants, the Mariners to play the Oakland Athletics. Both series were wrapping up with their final games on Thursday.

It isn’t uncommon for players visiting Oakland to stay in San Francisco. Although it isn’t often that the Giants and A’s are engaged in home series at the same time, this week posed an exception. And, sure enough, the Diamondbacks’ and Mariners’ traveling secretaries thought alike.

So did their relief pitchers. A Diamondbacks reliever accidentally boarded the Mariners’ team bus Thursday, according to Shannon Drayer of KIRO (710-AM) in Seattle.

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It finally happened, lol. Diamondbacks are also staying at the team hotel in SF -yes it was great to see Geno and Paul- and one just accidentally got on the Mariners bus. M’s almost picked up another reliever. 😂

— Shannon Drayer (@shannondrayer) September 5, 2024

Although Drayer concealed the identity of the pitcher in question — and how long he remained on the bus before catching the mistake — she noted it wasn’t former Mariners reliever Paul Sewald, who was traded to Arizona last year and helped ignite the Diamondbacks’ surprising run to the World Series.

In the pitcher’s defense, the circumstances for confusing one team’s bus for another on this occasion were ripe.

The two teams were playing road games at almost the exact same time Thursday. The Giants’ game against the Diamondbacks was scheduled to begin at 12:45 local time in San Francisco, while Oakland’s game against the Mariners began at 12:37. That means the two busses were likely idling in roughly the same place at the same time.

Teams almost universally charter their buses from private contractors. Here too, the number of bus operators equipped to handle an entire baseball team in a given city is fairly small. Even if your team’s logo isn’t on the outside of the bus, it’s easy to confuse one for another.

All in all, it made for an understandable accident. Teams aren’t allowed to trade major league players after the July 30 deadline, but the Mariners almost found a new way to acquire a pitcher Thursday.