A GRIP ON SPORTS • What are you doing this afternoon? Say, around 3 or 4? I know where I’ll be. Know what I’ll be eating. Tums. Like Halloween candy. There’s nothing like playoff baseball and its ups and downs to make one’s stomach roil.
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• Every baseball franchise has one game in their history that defines its legacy. Take the Yankees for instance. April 14, 1920. Babe Ruth’s first appearance in a New York uniform. In Philadelphia. Against the A’s. Batted fourth in the lineup, just behind first baseman Wally Pipp. Ruth did not hit a home run. But changed the Yankees, and the game itself, forever.
The Dodgers? Probably April 18, 1958. The franchise’s first game in Los Angeles. The Cardinals? Maybe Oct. 28, 2011. World Series Game Seven. Chris Carpenter pitches St. Louis to their 11th, and possibly their last, championship.
And the Mariners? I’m ready to mark down Oct. 17, 2025. In pencil, sure, but I’ll push down hard. If they win.
A franchise born through litigation and the threat of more hasn’t had the most golden of histories. It took 15 years to post a winning record. Another four to make the postseason. Only four division titles in 49 seasons. Never been to the World Series, a distinction shared with exactly zero other MLB teams.
But this afternoon’s game (3:08 PDT first pitch, FS1) could be a Randy Johnson-sized step toward changing all that. A giant stride toward washing away the memories of 1995’s postseason failure, of 1997’s, of 2022’s and, most importantly, the crushing disappointment of 2001, the season that was supposed to be that season, the one in which the M’s won it all.
Winning 116 regular season games that year did not guarantee anything. But it did cement more than two decades of belief among the faithful the franchise may just be cursed for some unfathomable reason.
There’s no sale of Ruth in the past. No banning of a billy goat. What is there? Forty-nine seasons of unrealized expectations. OK, maybe 45. But most since 1977 have come up short of hopes.
Today won’t ultimately change that no matter the outcome. But a win, any type of win, opens a door. One they closed on themselves the past two days, with Thursday night’s 8-2 loss slamming them in the face once again.
A 2-0 series lead gone in two days. Too many meatballs, by their pitchers’ admission. And the Blue Jays have feasted, scoring 21 runs in 18 innings.
It feels as if today’s game is a must-win. Heading back to Toronto having to duplicate what happened earlier in the week, but this time with the Series hanging in the balance, seems a Herculean task. A margin of error, more pressure on the Jays, both are in play with a win today. Lose? The weight on the young M’s becomes elephantine.
They are already carrying the load of their predecessors. The memories of their fans. The hopes of the Northwest. That’s more than enough. Go out today and lighten the load a little.
Write another page in the legacy book. Halt the home slide. Head north with a chance to do something Ruthian. To erase the past. To put something in the historical record with a Sharpie. It’s all there today. Grab it.
• With so much on the line, Seattle is turning to Bryce Miller once again. Calling on the 27-year-old righthander to duplicate what he did in Game One. To limit the potent Blue Jays’ offense for six innings or so, allowing the offense to find its feet and seal a win.
It’s been a tough season for Miller. He threw exactly half the innings in 2025 as he did in 2024, limited by balky elbow and plagued by ineffectiveness even when it wasn’t barking. He was hit harder. He struck out fewer hitters. And he walked more.
All that was in play five days ago too. Made no difference. He challenged the Jays, they weren’t up to it and, after 76 pitches, 52 of them in the strike zone, Miller had done his job. Six scoreless innings, two hits, five baserunners.
Now he’s asked to do it once more. With even more at stake.
Pass the Tums.
• We usually spend most of Friday going over the weekend TV schedule.
But some Fridays are different. Today is one of them. Even with college football on tonight (the best game is Louisville at No. 3 Miami, 4, ESPN), even with Dodgers, up 3-0, about to close out the Brewers (5:38, TBS), even with a full slate of college football Saturday and NFL on Sunday. Well, no Seahawks, who host the Texans on Monday night.
What’s not to be missed? My recommendation? Don’t miss Saturday’s game from South Bend. USC at Notre Dame. For the 95th – and possibly the last – time. It’s on NBC at 4:30 p.m.
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WSU: There is no rivalry between 18th-ranked Virginia and Washington State (. In fact, this is the first time the schools have met. So instead of delving into the past today, Greg Woods wisely stayed in the present moment. Tony Freeman’s breakout season. The winding path Freeman took from a senior year in high school without football to a junior year in Pullman in which he is the Cougars most-productive receiver. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has his game picks in the S-R. … John Canzano has his on his website. … We have others to pass along from around the nation. … Speaking of Wilner, he makes no bets on the outcome but he certainly lays out in the Mercury News the argument why the Mountain West should be considered the underdog in the Pac-12’s poaching lawsuit. Time is the key edge. … The Athletic has a look at the bowls. It has both Washington schools playing in Southern California, with the Huskies at the Holiday Bowl and the Cougars in the LA Bowl. … Money is at the root of all college football now. Not just the evil part. … Colorado’s defense is trying to raise the havoc level during the bye week. … Boise State is trying to shore up its special teams before meeting UNLV next week. … San Diego State is in a good place at midseason.
• Here are the rest of the (current, old and future) Pac-12 games this week, listed chronologically. All this week are on Saturday unless noted. The schedule below also includes any game in which finding news about turned out to be nearly impossible.
– San Jose State at Utah State (tonight, 6 p.m., CBS Sports Network): This game is crucial for the Aggies and any bowl hopes.
– North Carolina at Cal (tonight, 7:30 p.m., ESPN): Who knew that a typical ACC game in 2025 would happen on a Friday night. In Berkeley. With Bill Belichick coaching the visiting team.
– Washington at Michigan (9 a.m., Fox): Will Raiden Vines-Bright be the difference for the Husky offense in Ann Arbor?
– Arizona at Houston (9, FS1): The Wildcats will need to be better in the red zone this week.
– Texas State at Marshall (12:30 p.m., ESPN+): The Bobcats will be tested on the road by the a Thundering Herd offense that has been making some noise recently.
– No. 7 Texas Tech at Arizona State (1, Fox): Not sure this is a good matchup for a beat-up Sun Devils team.
– No. 8 Oregon at Rutgers (3:30, Big Ten Network): Quarterback Dante Moore needs to bounce back or the Ducks could be in for a long second half of the season. Heck, the entire offense needs to improve.
– Maryland at UCLA (4, FS1): One underrated aspect of the Bruins’ turnaround? The players seem to really like new offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel. And he really likes one of his co-workers.
– Hawaii at Colorado State (4, Mountain West Network):
– No. 20 USC at No. 13 Notre Dame (4:30, NBC): We mentioned this rivalry is on life support. Which is sad, as it represents core principals in college athletics every season. Tradition. Rivalry. Pomp and circumstance. And a trophy.
– No. 23 Utah at No. 15 BYU (5, Fox): This rivalry game has been a little ugly lately. Last year, the BYU cheer coach was hit in the head by a bottle thrown from the stands. Such events should not happen in Provo but that doesn’t diminish how heated this neighborhood game has become.
– Lafayette at Oregon State (7, The CW): Despite all that’s going on in Corvallis, at least there is one fun item to pass along. And the news Ed Oregeron has expressed an interest in the coaching position. … The Beavers are losing recruits, as could be expected.
– Florida State at Stanford (7:30, ESPN): CJ Williams has emerged as the Cardinal’s top receiver. He has a chance for a fourth-consecutive 100-yard game.
• In basketball news, the Colorado men have at least one outstanding outside shooter. The Buffs are still expected to finish near the Big 12 cellar. … Arizona was picked fourth. … The basketball ecosystem is still in flux, something Mick Cronin is trying to prepare his UCLA team. That includes how the Bruins treat the early part of the schedule. They have exhibition at San Diego State. … Boise State and Idaho will renew the intrastate game this season but as an exhibition. … Will Arizona State’s women’s team be improved this season?
Gonzaga: Around the WCC, USF athletic director Larry Williams died Thursday, struck down by a heart attack while working out. The 62-year-old Williams had also been the University of Portland’s AD for seven years.
EWU: Just who will start at quarterback for the Eagles? And will he have the same success in their rivalry matchup with Idaho as other recent Eastern starters? These are questions Dan Thompson addresses in today’s preview. … Elsewhere in the (current and future) Big Sky, one Montana State senior is having a fun final season. … Winning more has put a spotlight on Northern Colorado. It will be shining bright this week as the Bears play Sacramento State. … A couple of Cal Poly players have accepted the responsibility of being a father. … In basketball news, recruiting never stops for the Montana State men.
Idaho: At one point this season, UI was ranked eighth in the nation. After three consecutive losses and a 2-4 overall record, the Vandals enter their rivalry game with Eastern trying to right the ship. Peter Harriman’s preview looks at their goals and how a win in Cheney could propel them there.
Preps: Dave Nichols has a roundup of Thursday’s action, which included one GSL football game.
Seahawks: It looks as if the Hawks’ secondary has turned the corner. And have done it without running into another wall. Or being sideswiped by a delivery truck. In other words, it is getting healthy.
Mariners: We really didn’t dwell on last night’s second-consecutive debacle at T-Mobile in our column above. But Jacob Thorpe had to. And he focused upon the fire Toronto showed, epitomized by Max Scherzer basically telling his manager to, well, get lost – that’s a family-friendly way to put it – in the fifth inning. … We sprinkled in links from the S-R and the Seattle Times above. Here we want to link coverage from other sources. Some as far away as Washington. … As we mentioned in passing above, the defending MLB champion Dodgers are up 3-0 on the Brewers and that’s happened while Shohei Ohtani has struggled.
Kraken: Seattle hit the road and lost again, this one in a shootout in Ottawa.
Reign: Seattle says goodbye to Lu Barnes this weekend.
Bloomsday: Another day, another Nina Culver story on one of the race’s perennial finishers. This one highlights Dr. Bill Peters, who has had his share of close calls when missing the race could have been possible.
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• Nothing else on my agenda today besides the M’s. Well, there is the little task prepping the garage for a new refrigerator and all that entails. The old one gave up the ghost this summer after more than 40 years. Once I’ve cleared that space for Saturday’s delivery (and haul away) I do have to get some yard work done, being there is rain in the weekend forecast. Of course, there are bills to pay. Always. Every Friday. Oh, and some housecleaning. Can’t forget. But besides those minor details, I’m completely free. Wait, forgot my usual Friday lunch with friends. Crud. Maybe I’ll skip something. Until later …