SEATTLE — The Ford Crown Victoria pulled up at the Peace Arch Border Crossing just as the news reached young Matthew Boyd: The Seattle Mariners were eliminated from the playoffs. Boyd was a defenseman for the Seattle Sno-King youth hockey team, on a road trip to Canada with his father. The voice of the Mariners, Dave Niehaus, gave the grim report through the car radio.
“I remember being so dejected, like, ‘We’re not going to the playoffs?’” said Boyd, who had come to expect that his heroes would always play in October. “I was kind of spoiled at that point in my childhood.