With the Seattle Mariners’ trade for Eugenio “Geno” Suárez on Wednesday night, the vibes around the team are certainly good.
Especially with the way the team returned from Sacramento to begin a 10-game homestand on Thursday.
Drayer: What adding Eugenio Suárez means for Mariners’ lineup
As Mariners insider Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports relayed Thursday morning to Brock and Salk, the Mariners’ team plane didn’t take off for home right away. It turns out they were waiting for some surprise passengers.
“We got on the plane and we were sitting for a little while, and it turns out that they were holding the plane for Geno and his family,” Drayer said. “And they didn’t tell the players that was what they were doing. So after about a half-hour, all of a sudden it got a little bit loud at the front of the plane. Geno got on the plane and you could hear the cheering.”
It must have been quite the whirlwind for Suárez, who started the day playing for Arizona at Detroit. But with Diamondbacks set to start a series against the Athletics on Friday, he was able to jump from one plane to the next.
True to Suárez’s personality, he took the time to greet everybody on the Mariners plane once he hopped on.
“This was just the neatest thing, and it’s so Geno Suárez: he proceeded to walk the entire length of the plane and hugged every person on it,” Drayer said.
Both Suárez, who previously played for the Mariners in 2022 and 2023, and his teammates seem pretty happy about his reunion with Seattle.
“I spoke very briefly with him, and he just said, ‘I am so happy,’” Drayer said of Suárez.
The #Mariners held the plane in Sacramento to allow Eugenio Suárez time for him and his family to join the flight back to Seattle. 🥹@shannondrayer takes you inside the emotional moment with @BrockHuard & @TheMikeSalk.
📺: https://t.co/L3ws5WW1ey https://t.co/6pXxua9spG pic.twitter.com/1ESptXE9l1
— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) July 31, 2025
The touching reunion on the plane seemed to come at a perfect time for the Mariners. While they’re tied with their next opponent, the Texas Rangers, for the last wild card from the American League, they had just lost 5-4 to the Athletics on Wednesday, ending a road trip where they went 3-4. Additionally, the Mariners have four more days to go in a stretch of 17 straight days with a game.
“It could have been a tough flight,” Drayer said. “They lost a ball game, they had the night game before another game at home the next day, and they’re deep in the 17 straight.”
The vibes then turned around with the surprise arrival of Suárez, which Drayer called “one of the neatest moments I have seen on the plane in my years of traveling with them.”
“This pumps them up,” Drayer said. “They lost the game, but this I think makes them believe in that clubhouse – every man – we’ve got what we need to make this run right now.”
According to Drayer, there was a different feeling when the media talked to All-Star catcher Cal Raleigh in the clubhouse after the team had heard about the Suárez trade.
“You heard a different kind of confidence when Cal in particular was talking about it,” she said. “He said, hey, I felt good about the moves they already made, I feel good about the guys we have in here, but this is Geno. And there was a lot of talk about both what he could do on the field and in the lineup, but also the person he was and what he can bring in regard to the vibes and kind of calming people down if there are just situations where it gets tough in a playoff run.
“He is somebody that can can kind of dictate the feel, the vibe in the clubhouse, in the dugout, on the field. And that is something that they are looking forward to having, and I think something you need when you make that push. They’ve got a lot of good guys in the clubhouse, a lot of guys that can do good things like that. But it’s clear they view Geno as being a a different kind of leader in that regard.”
Catch Brock and Salk live from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.
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