Mariners take on fans in video game tournament

SEATTLE -- While there's no indication yet when Major League Baseball players will take the field again, 16 Mariners players are lined up to challenge a field of 16 fans beginning Tuesday in an MLB The Show 20 video game tournament.

The Mariners will make a $5,000 donation through the team’s nonprofit foundation, Mariners Care, to COVID-19 relief efforts in the name of the winner of the virtual competition. If a fan is crowned champion, he or she will receive front-row tickets to a future Mariners game and the opportunity to throw out a first pitch.

The PS4 tournament begins Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT with designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach facing Stevie Robinson of Seattle, and there’ll be three further games on Opening Day featuring pitcher Taijuan Walker at 12:30 p.m., utility man Tim Lopes at 3 p.m. and reliever Carl Edwards Jr. at 5:30 p.m.

Four more games will be played each day in the same time slots through Friday in the first round, with winners advancing to next week’s second round.

Viewers can follow along at Mariners.com/Showdown for schedules, results and highlights and view the livestreams at Twitch.tv/Mariners.

Other Mariners participating are reliever Dan Altavilla, second baseman Shed Long Jr., outfielder Julio Rodríguez  and second baseman Dee Strange-Gordon on Wednesday; reliever Art Warren, shortstop J.P. Crawford, pitcher Justin Dunn and infielder Donovan Walton on Thursday; and outfielders Kyle Lewis and Jake Fraley, reliever Zac Grotz and catcher Cal Raleigh on Friday. Each will take on a fan in the first round.

The tournament is similar to the league-wide MLB The Show Players League championship that just wrapped up with Rays pitcher Blake Snell sweeping Lucas Giolito of the White Sox in the best-of-five championship round.

Edwards, a former Cubs reliever who signed with Seattle as a free agent in December, represented the Mariners in that tournament and went 10-19 in the regular season portion of the competition.