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Seattle SPORTs Now 4/23

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  Seattle Kraken general manager Jason Botterill met with the local media Wednesday at the Kraken Practice Facility at Northgate and said he plans to be `very aggressive’ during the off-season. The Kraken looked headed towards a playoff berth until they weren’t. The team boasted a 10-5-2 record in the month of January where at one point they were only three points behind the top spot in the Pacific Division. On the year, Seattle was in a playoff spot for 117 days. But when the team returned from the Olympic break in February it appeared to be lacking a spark and fell all the way down to 13 th place in the16-team Western Conference. Ironically, the Pacific Division was relatively weak this season and a top three finish would have placed the Kraken in the playoffs regardless of point totals. ``Our power play dropped off in March and April,’’ said Botterill, as the team went through a 5-14 streak after the Olympics. ``I feel our future is bright, but we’re not where we want to ...
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Seattle SPORTs Now

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                                Ron Francis (above) with Jordan Eberle and his family After five years with the Seattle Kraken- four as general manager and one as president of hockey operations- Ron Francis and the Kraken have decided to part ways. In some ways, this has been the most disappointing season in the five-year history of the Kraken. At the Winter Olympic break, Seattle was in a playoff position in the Pacific Division. Since the season resumed, Seattle’s NHL entry has only won five of 19 games. -``No one is satisfied,’’ said Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke. ``We have not delivered on the promise of this team. We're going to go back to the model we started with. We're going to have a GM who makes the decisions." Francis has made the decisions since before the Kraken even had a nickname. He took over in July 2019 and selected the players in the 2021 NHL expansion draft. While the Kraken didn’t achieve...
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Seattle SPORTs Now 3/31

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  Hopes are high for the Seattle Mariners as the 2026 baseball season begins. The Mariners came within eight outs of a World Series trip a year ago and are a popular pick to make their first-ever Fall Classic appearance in 2026. Here’s how Seattle SPORTs Now looks at the season. AL West The Mariners should take the division this season anchored by arguably the best- starting rotations in baseball. Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo are probably co-aces, but the back end of the rotation, Luis Castillo and Emerson Hancock were dominant in their first starts of the season. Emerson threw six no-hit innings on a nationally televised game against the Cleveland Guardians but in 21 st century baseball it was no surprise that Hancock was pulled after six innings. George Kirby and Bryan Miller, currently on the disabled list round out the starting rotation when Andre Munoz, the Mariners stud out of the bullpen. The Mariners big guns have yet to start hitting- outfielder Julio Rodrigues t...
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Seattle SPORTs Now 3/24/26

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  The long-awaited 2026 baseball season begins this week with Seattle Mariner fans having high expectations for the coming season. The M’s came within a game of making their first ever World Series in 2025 and are trendy pick to make-and possibly win- the Fall Classic this season. Will 50 be the magic number for the Mariners who begin their 50 th year of existence? Seattle returns most of last year’s squad and there’s cautious optimism that the team has made some improvements. Reigning home run champ Cal Raleigh returns along with the M’s highly regarded starting rotation except for number-five starter Bryce Miller who begins the season on the disabled list Emerson Hancock replaces him in the rotation for now. The rotation of Logan Gilbert- Thursday’s opening day starter against the Cleveland Guardians- Bryan Woo, a team-high 15 wins, George Kirby and Luis Castillo with Andre Munoz (38 saves) coming out of the bullpen is the jewel of baseball. Arguably, the rotation was bett...
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Seattle SPORTs Now 3/17

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  If you’ve watched the World Baseball Classic recently, there’s a player on the Canadian team who might seem familiar. Phillippe Aumont from Gatineau, Quebec was a number-one draft pick of the Seattle Mariners way back in 2007 (11 th overall), the third player in Canadian history to be taken that high in the amateur draft following Adam Loewen (Baltimore) and Jeff Francis (Colorado) in 2002. However, he never made it to the big club being dealt in one of those `we’ve got a shot to win this year’ deals in 2012. Aumont was dealt to the Phillies as part of a package for pitcher Cliff Lee, who the Mariners would soon deal away when they realized they didn’t have a shot to win that year. Aumont pitched parts of three seasons with the Phils chalking up a less than inspiring 1-6 record. He spent time in the Tigers, White Sox and Blue Jays organizations bunt never saw action in in the major leagues after leaving Philadelphia. Despite not having pitched in the majors since 2015 or...
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Seattle SPORTs Now 3/10

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In the first day of NFL free-agency the Seattle Seahawks lost Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III, who signed a three-year $45 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. Also leaving the Seahawks are pass rusher Boye Mafe who’ll receive $60 mil. for three years from the Cincinnati Bengals and defensive back Cobe Bryant, who inked a three-year $40 million deal with the Chicago Bears. The Seahawks re-signed one player that day, cornerback Joshua Jobe. On paper, it appears that Maye and Bryant got better deals than Walker, who no doubt is the player Seahawk fans are most sorry to lose, but running backs, because of the physical beating they take, generally have much shorter careers (and are leading candidates to be permanently injured before a long-term contract would expire). Some good news for the Seahawk Nation was the resigning of wide receiver/kick return specialist Rashid Shaheed over the weekend who agreed to a three-year, $51 million contract to remain with the Se...
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Seattle SPORTs Now

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  Fresh off a USA women’s hockey victory in the 2026 Winter Olympics, Seattle set a new women’s hockey attendance record last Friday night at Climate Pledge Arena. A sellout crowd of 17,335 was on-hand to see a contest between the home town Torrent and the Toronto Sceptres (who posted a 5-2 victory). Not bad, considering the Torrent and the Sceptres are the bottom two teams in league standings. This marked the third time in four months that the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) has set a new attendance record. The Torrent previously set the record at their inaugural home opener against the Minnesota Frost on November 28, 2025 in front of 16,014 fans at Climate Pledge Arena. Then as part of the PWHL Takeover tour, a total of 17,228 fans filled Capital One Arena in Washington DC for a game between the Montreal Victoire and the New York Sirens. The Takeover Tour allows fans in cities without a PWHL franchise the opportunity to see the women’s game. Team USA and T...
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