The Greatest Weekend in Seattle SPORTs

 

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When sports fans or media discuss the best sports city, Eastern cities like New York, Boston and Philadelphia are mentioned along with Chicago in the middle of the country, but this past weekend may go done in history as the greatest weekend in Seattle sports.

What may be the best three days in Seattle Mariners’ history, ironically coincided with every other active major league team representing the Emerald City also winning. Also, the University of Washington football team, which was the number one sports team in the city long before the professionals arrived, also defeated Rutgers in a Big Ten contest.

The long awaited dream of many locals is to see the Mariners in the World Series. The Seahawks have won a Super Bowl, the WNBA Storm were champions a couple of times in the Sue Bird era, and even the Sonics won an NBA title before they departed for the filthy lucre of Oklahoma.

Seattle SPORTs Now predicted the M’s to make the World Series but many scoffed. This writer talked to a Capital Hill resident in early August who admitted he’d given up on the Mariners. I told him to give them another shot. Seeing him the other night, he was fully on the bandwagon.

The charm of baseball, and it’s supposedly our national pastime even though ESPN and sports radio are football driven, is that it may be the most unpredictable sport. The Tom Bradys and Magic Johnsons led their teams to NFL and NBA titles, but in baseball a utility infielder hitting .200 could get the hit to lead his squad to a championship (this is akin to the `Bucky “Bleeping” Dent Syndrome in Boston. Look it up).

The storyline surrounding the Seattle-Detroit series was that the Mariners would have to steal a game not pitched by Tarik Skubal, the former Seattle University hurler who’s suddenly become the best pitcher in baseball the last two seasons.

The Mariners confounded the experts by winning two games Skubal started, and blowing two games where he was safely ensconsed in the dugout eating sunflower seeds. Jorge Polanco, who the Mariners almost let leave in free agency the past off-season, drove in the game-winning run in the fifteen-inning marathon that sent the Mariners to the AL championship series.

The prevailing wisdom heading into last night’s game one at Toronto, was that the Mariners were in trouble, at least for one game. Against Detroit in Friday night’s tong war with the Tigers, Seattle sent seven pitchers to the mound, including usual starters, Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo.

Bryce Miller, the Mariners’ fifth starter (counting Bryan Woo, injured in the waning moments of the regular season, but who still may make a playoff appearance) drew last night’s starting assignment. Miller, pitching on three days rest was injured himself briefly, and had an ERA over 5 this season.

Therefore, it was no surprise that George Springer homered on Miller’s first pitch of the game. That was followed almost immediately by two walks. The score remained 1-0 for five innings, and then a funny thing happened on the way to a Toronto game one victory.

Miller got stronger as the game progressed and Kevin Gausman, the Blue Jays number-one starter, faltered. And Polanco again wore the unlikely hero mantle with a single scoring Julio Rodriguez, after hopeful AL MVP Cal Raleigh had homered earlier in the inning giving Seattle a 2-1 lead.

Andres Munoz was his old self, retiring the side in the side without too much sweat in the ninth, after set-up men, Gabe Speier and Matt Brasch retired six straight.

For the record, three other Seattle professional teams won over the weekend and two of them- the Seahawks and the Kraken are also in first place (okay the Kraken have only played two games).

On Saturday, the Sounders’ soccer team scored an early goal and held on for a 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake on the rainy pitch of Luman Field. The Sounders paid homage to their neighbors by doing the Mariners post-game dance at the contest’s conclusion.

Across town at a dryer Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle’s Jared McCann scored with two seconds remaining in the overtime, tapping a shot home as he was pushed by a Vegas Golden Knight defender. The Kraken won their second consecutive game, 2-1, after never winning an opening night game in their first four years of existence.

The Seahawks completed an historic weekend with a 20-12 road victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in a relatively boring contest although FOX play-by-play man Chris Meyers can make any game sound boring. However, Tampa Bay’s win over San Francisco means the Seahawks and 49ers are tied for first in the NFC West Division.

The Mariners continue the best-of-seven series with the Blue Jays tonight (Oct. 13), followed by home games Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The winner faces tWhen sports fans or media discuss the best sports city, Eastern cities like New York, Boston and Philadelphia are mentioned along with Chicago in the middle of the country, but this past weekend may go done in history as the greatest weekend in Seattle sports.

What may be the best three days in Seattle Mariners’ history, ironically coincided with every other active major league team representing the Emerald City also winning. Also, the University of Washington football team, which was the number one sports team in the city long before the professionals arrived, also defeated Rutgers in a Big Ten contest.

The long awaited dream of many locals is to see the Mariners in the World Series. The Seahawks have won a Super Bowl, the WNBA Storm were champions a couple of times in the Sue Bird era, and even the Sonics won an NBA title before they departed for the filthy lucre of Oklahoma.

Seattle SPORTs Now predicted the M’s to make the World Series but many scoffed. This writer talked to a Capital Hill resident in early August who admitted he’d given up on the Mariners. I told him to give them another shot. Seeing him the other night, he was fully on the bandwagon.

The charm of baseball, and it’s supposedly our national pastime even though ESPN and sports radio are football driven, is that it may be the most unpredictable sport. The Tom Bradys and Magic Johnsons led their teams to NFL and NBA titles, but in baseball a utility infielder hitting .200 could get the hit to lead his squad to a championship (this is akin to the `Bucky “Bleeping” Dent Syndrome in Boston. Look it up).

The storyline surrounding the Seattle-Detroit series was that the Mariners would have to steal a game not pitched by Tarik Skubal, the former Seattle University hurler who’s suddenly become the best pitcher in baseball the last two seasons.

The Mariners confounded the experts by winning two games Skubal started, and blowing two games where he was safely ensconsed in the dugout eating sunflower seeds. Jorge Polanco, who the Mariners almost let leave in free agency the past off-season, drove in the game-winning run in the fifteen-inning marathon that sent the Mariners to the AL championship series.

The prevailing wisdom heading into last night’s game one at Toronto, was that the Mariners were in trouble, at least for one game. Against Detroit in Friday night’s tong war with the Tigers, Seattle sent seven pitchers to the mound, including usual starters, Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo.

Bryce Miller, the Mariners’ fifth starter (counting Bryan Woo, injured in the waning moments of the regular season, but who still may make a playoff appearance) drew last night’s starting assignment. Miller, pitching on three days rest was injured himself briefly, and had an ERA over 5 this season.

Therefore, it was no surprise that George Springer homered on Miller’s first pitch of the game. That was followed almost immediately by two walks. The score remained 1-0 for five innings, and then a funny thing happened on the way to a Toronto game one victory.

Miller got stronger as the game progressed and Kevin Gausman, the Blue Jays number-one starter, faltered. And Polanco again wore the unlikely hero mantle with a two-run single scoring Cal Ripken and Julio Rodriguez, who both reached without benefit of a hit, giving Seattle a 2-1 lead.

Andres Munoz was his old self, retiring the side in the side without too much sweat in the ninth, after set-up men, Gabe Speier and Matt Brasch retired six straight.

For the record, three other Seattle professional teams won over the weekend and two of them- the Seahawks and the Kraken are also in first place (okay the Kraken have only played two games).

On Saturday, the Sounders’ soccer team scored an early goal and held on for a 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake on the rainy pitch of Luman Field. The Sounders paid homage to their neighbors by doing the Mariners post-game dance at the contest’s conclusion.

Across town at a dryer Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle’s Jared McCann scored with two seconds remaining in the overtime, tapping a shot home as he was pushed by a Vegas Golden Knight defender. The Kraken won their second consecutive game, 2-1, after never winning an opening night game in their first four years of existence.

The Seahawks completed an historic weekend with a 20-12 road victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in a relatively boring contest although FOX play-by-play man Chris Meyers can make any game sound boring. However, Tampa Bay’s win over San Francisco means the Seahawks and 49ers are tied for first in the NFC West Division.

The Mariners continue the best-of-seven series with the Blue Jays tonight (Oct. 13), followed by home games Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The winner faces the Los Angeles Dodgers-Milwaukee Brewers NL series in the World Series.