Trip Dates: September 27-29, 2025
Edit: October 2, 2025: I updated three pictures. I cropped the image of Stephen and me. For the picture of Anthony Blanda and me in my hat I worked with the depth of field to blur the background and foreground to bring the attention to the subject.
I have loved both trains and baseball (specifically the Los Angeles Dodgers) since I was 10; which, for those who are counting, is more than 60 years. I got to experience both at the end of September. Back in April I peeked at the Seattle Mariners’ schedule (the MLB team closest to us in Portland) to see if the Dodgers would be visiting. Yep, they played the last series of the regular season: Carla and I made plans to go to a game. When I told my friend Stephen, he was all over it and organized a group of 7 for the last game of the season. That meant 2 games: Saturday night and Sunday afternoon for me.
The others drove up to Mary Ann’s place near Belfair, WA but I was not going to let the opportunity for a couple of train rides to go unused. So Carla and I booked seats on the Amtrak Cascades and a motel walking distance from King Street station and T-Mobile park. Unfortunately much of the Cascades train sets are undergoing repairs since March requiring cancellation of many trains ; fortunately we got ride Amfleet single-level passenger cars reserved mostly for East Coast service.
After checking into our motel we headed over to Alaskan Way – the waterfront near the ferry piers. This area has been completely revamped over the past years. There used to be a huge viaduct carrying US 99 traffic north and south. The viaduct was a big barrier between the popular Pike’s Street Market area and the waterfront. Seattle replaced the huge bridge with a tunnel. It has transformed the area. I should have taken pictures; sorry. There were thousands of tourists walking along the waterfront and I think at least half were wearing Dodgers’ gear.
I don’t usually wear branded gear; I was wearing blue but no logos. I was among my people and felt like I needed to support my team so I picked up a hat.
Ice cream cones in hand we headed back to our motel to rest a bit before heading to the game. What a crowd. It’s nice that T-Mobile park is in the city; the street heading south was filled with fans and merchants selling stuff. Getting into the park was a bit of a hassle. As far as I could tell there are only two entries – and 45,000+ people would have to funnel through four metal detectors. But the line went pretty quickly; we bought some hotdogs and beers and headed to our seats 31 rows behind the Mariner’s dugout. The view from our seats.
The Dodgers won and the shaky bullpen struck out the side in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. That’s good news heading into the playoffs.
Stephen ordered the tickets for the Sunday game. He picked well, scoring seats in the 2nd row just beyond the Dodgers’ dugout about where the third baseman plays with no one on base. These were without a doubt the closest seats to the field I’ve had for an MLB game. The only downside is many of the pictures are obscured by the netting that protects fans from foul balls. But we could turn our backs to the field to get the all important friend photo.
Coming in from the outfield after warmups Dodger pitcher Anthony Banda stopped to sign autographs for fans. He took a long time to serve as many people as he could. Notice his Clayton Kershaw T-shirt which commemorates his 3,000 career strikeouts.
Kiké Hernandez is a fan favorite. He can be so-so during the regular season but really amps up the energy and intensity during the post season. Luckily he was playing third base, right in front of us.
I think you’ll see something at any baseball game you haven’t seen before and that was true on Sunday. In the bottom of one of the early innings a Mariner batter hit a screaming line drive down the third baseline. The umpire called it a foul ball so the batter came back for another swing. In the few moments before the batter got back in position Kiké was talking to the ump pointing toward the foul line. Eventually he went to the line behind on the outfield grass behind the bag, knelt down and pointed to a spot on the fair side of the line where the ball hit. “It hit right here!” He was careful to say that after the call was made.
As I said there was an almost capacity crowd and a lot of blue.
Our seat mates were a young couple from Portland: Devon and Montana. We had a nice time chatting about our team and bemoaning the problematic bullpen.
I was digging Montana’s fingernails. Go Blue!
Sunday was Clayton Kershaw’s final regular season game; he is retiring this winter after 18 seasons all in blue. He went out for the 7th inning, pitched to one batter; then his teammates came to the mound and Dave Roberts took him out of the game letting his teammates and the crowd celebrate his career.
He got a long standing ovation from the crowd: Mariner and Dodger fans combined. It was so sweet; I got chills. We’ll see him at the Hall of Fame in 5 years when he becomes eligible. Man, I love Dodger baseball.
When Clayton was heading into the dugout after his pregame warm up he came close by and I yelled my signature line: “Clayton, You are BEAUTIFUL.” I saw a big smile and thought he heard me. Maybe not; he walked up to a group down to my right and gave the woman and kids kisses. Oh, because it was Kersh’s last game his wife, Ellen, and his two older kids came to the game. They sat one row in front of us and down about half a dozen seats.
The ushers kept most of the fans away but she was so polite and generous with the well-wishers. You can tell a lot about a person’s personality by how they treat staff. She was so nice, saying “please” and “thank you” to Dodger and Mariner staff members who came to check in on her. It was so affirming to see. Here she is shortly after her husband came off the field.
Another thing I wanted to witness was Shohei Ohtani – the best baseball player in the world – hit a homer. He didn’t play on Saturday night but obliged on Sunday by driving a ball into the left center bleachers. Here is rounding third. Again, not a great picture; the net provides and the net takes.
At the conclusion of the game the Mariner’s ground crew dug out the pitching rubber for (I think) Clayton Kershaw. What a kind gesture.
After the game we managed to find a bar for some drinks and Happy Hour eats. The five of our group who came from Belfair had to head back to the ferry while Carla and I accompanied them as far as an ice cream stand. We said good-bye and headed back to our motel. We spent Sunday night and took our time getting ready for our train ride home.
This is one of the last Talgo train sets in service. In March a number of the Amtrak Cascades 35 year-old Talgo train sets were taken out of service due to corrosion concerns. A new set of trains will be delivered in 2026. I’m looking forward to riding those trains.
What a great weekend. It’s the happiest I’ve been in months.
