The weird relationship between Mac from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and former Phillies second baseman Chase Utley officially has a much more satisfying coda now that actor Rob McElhenney is friggin jacked as hell.
Actor, writer, and It’s Always Sunny co-creator McElhenney’s Mac is one of the weirdest bozos on TV, and one of the most notable characters to go from thin to fat and back again before our eyes. But Mac’s obsession with Utley just may be the defining trait of his character.
Things got very specific about Utley during the show’s fifth season in a brilliant episode called “The World Series Defense.” Set around the series-clinching Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, Mac hopes to get a personal letter to Utley by giving it to Sweet Dee, who has decided to get blitzed on “riot punch” and later run on the field to kiss a player when the series win is locked up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6cEOk7x4HA
Mac wants her to kiss Utley for him, explaining that he gave the letter to “Major League Baseball, his lawyer, his manager and his mom” but he hasn’t written back. The letter itself is pretty odd but Mac stresses there’s “nothing sexual” about it. And oh, sh*t, there were stickers. Unfortunately Mac and Utley never got to “have a catch” or talk about their dads because the gang got locked in a hotel supply closet, but the episode became a fan favorite.
Utley even responded to the letter years later, but his stance on Mac’s affection apparently changed when pictures of McElhenney shirtless at a pride parade surfaced over the weekend. Because the man who was once Fat Mac is now absolutely jacked.
https://twitter.com/howertcn/status/1006028692659683330
And Jacked Mac certainly has gotten Utley’s attention. On Monday, he posted an Instagram video of him standing next to a shirtless, still ripped McElhenney and called him his #mcm, hashtag-speak for “Man Crush Monday.”
It’s the ending this story deserves, really. And it’s great that McElhenney and Utley can keep this bit going for Sunny fans who still remember lines from an episode that aired nearly nine years ago. Because no matter what shape Mac is in, it was clear that their relationship was always going to be…
… a real home run.
