BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — It's the end of the road for the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday night when they lost in a win-or-go-home game against the New York Yankees.
Many people never imagined they would make it into the postseason and one northwest Ohio fan took the excitement of the team's success to a whole new level.
Any true Guardians fan knows Oscar Gonzalez's walk-up song is the theme song for Spongebob Squarepants. So, Bowling Green State University student David Hrusovsky started dressing up as Spongebob and his costume took the baseball world by storm.
Hrusovsky is a senior at BGSU, majoring in digital art. And he was just an average college student, until a couple of months ago.
He said remembered one day that his older brother's Spongebob costume was sitting in his basement from when he dressed up as the cartoon character in Elementary school.
"I had to cut slits in the arm holes for it to even put it on," he said. It's supposed to go down to your knees for a child, but anyways, I'm glad it still fits."
Not only did it fit, he decided to wear it to one of the Guardians games in September when the team was playing well and making a push for the playoffs.
"I internalized it and was like, 'I should try and wear this to a game and see what happens,'" he said.
He never imagined the success his goofy idea would bring. Fans loved it, both at the games and on social media. He's even gained about 3,000 new followers on Twitter and said when people see him at the stadium, he is always stopped.
"I got to the stadium kind of early," Hrusovsky said. "I walked around the stadium one time and I took like 50 photos with people. It was pretty crazy."
And, he raised enough money to buy tickets to the postseason games. But possibly the most important of all, he got Oscar Gonzalez's attention.
"I also messaged Oscar directly," Hrusovsky said. "He got me an autographed ball and I got a picture with him in September."
He said he's been to countless games, but he was nervous to wear the costume for the first time.
"Initially I was like, what if something stupid happens?'" he said. "But then I remembered we're pretty devout fans so I knew it was going to be fine. Sure enough, they were completely fine with it, they were pretty happy I was doing it."
Baseball players are famously superstitious and with the Guardians' loss, people are wondering if Spongebob will make another appearance next season.
Hrusovsky said he hasn't decided yet, and that it also depends on if Gonzalez uses the theme song again.