Seattle baseball fans are feeling Humpy these days

Humpy Fever has taken over Seattle. Baseball fans are rooting on the Mariners with their new favorite mascot: A life-vest and water-wings-clad salmon who has long been the underdog, er, underfish, of the Salmon Run during the seventh-inning stretch of home games.

Seattle’s mayor made it official Thursday afternoon: Oct. 16 is now Humpy Day in the city, to honor the salmon mascot who’s become a fan-favorite recently. Humpy stole the spotlight, and the hearts of Seattleites, last week when he finally won the Salmon Run footrace after 162 consecutive losses.

The mascot has become the symbol of the Mariners' World Series chase.

“There’s a little bit of Humpy in all of us,” Mayor Bruce Harrell said at a rally on Thursday ahead of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Mariners lead the series 2-1.

After some anticipation, the salmon of the hour arrived to a raucous crowd.

Humpy came sprinting into the City Hall Plaza, sporting his signature floaties and googly eyes, and shaking fins with fans.

“Amazing. He smells really good. He is really fast, as we discovered,” said Lee Chilcott, whose family snapped some selfies with the famous fish.

Baseball fans marched from City Hall to the stadium, joined by the University of Washington Marching Band and Cheer Squad. Bar patrons came out onto the sidewalk to dance along with the music and cheer on the crowd.

"We actually met that parade on Yesler,” Chilcott said. “It was really cool because we came off the ferry from Bremerton and it was like a greeting party.”

The marching band was kind enough to let Humpy be the first to get to the stadium.

If the Mariners win the seven-game series against the Blue Jays, they would advance to the World Series for their first time.

Happy Humpy Day to all who celebrate!