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Seattle Mariners

Grip on Sports: Spring training comes at just the right time every year

Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais watches a drill during spring training baseball practice Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016, in Peoria, Ariz. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s still February. There are piles of snow on the ground taller than Przemek Karnowski. The rain is falling hard enough to put an eye out. A couple of Fiat 500s have disappeared in the Freya potholes. Which means it’s a great time to talk baseball. Read on.

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• If you have friends or relatives living in California, you know how much rain has hit the state in the past few weeks. And most of the storms that strike Southern California move on to finish dumping their Pacific Ocean moisture on Arizona.

Home of Mariners’ spring training.

Which means the region’s professional baseball team is getting a slow start.

No matter. The M’s have gathered in the Phoenix area, the sun will come out soon and, before you know it, there will be video of guys in baseball uniforms running around in the sun.

Forget Punxsutawney Phil, that’s the surest sign of spring.

What’s the first thing you think of when you see the obligatory spring training video of guys running, throwing or hitting?

Blue sky. Green grass. Hot days. Cool nights.

The sounds of the game emanating from the radio and floating over the lawn as you rest under a tree.

Baseball mirrors life in a way. Every season starts with hope. And, for a few, it ends in glory. In between is a bunch of hard work. Long days filled with good and bad, ups and downs, highs and lows.

Ultimately, it’s always worth the ride.

• Will the M’s make the playoffs this season? Yes. No. Maybe. That’s as good an answer as anyone can offer this time of year.

A major league season is a slog. The M’s starting rotation looks OK – on paper. But 162 games could cull it down to one or two healthy guys. Or all five could make just about every one of their scheduled starts.

The lineup looks OK – on paper. But some of the big bats are long in the tooth. Others have had one or two good years. They could all come together and have career seasons. Or three of them could and the others fade away.

There are less than a handful of teams that seem to be a lock for the postseason. And yet even the best of the best aren’t immune to injury or other unforeseen problems. Some have a larger margin of error than the M’s, some have less.

So does Seattle finally get back into the playoffs?

No one knows. But enjoy the ride. After all, a late spring, summer and early fall filled with games is better than the rest of the year without. 

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Gonzaga: Will the Zags make the NCAA tournament? (That’s a joke.) But there have been years when it was a legitimate question of Feb. 20. Not this one. Instead, we are talking about No. 1 seeds and undefeated regular seasons. Jim Meehan touches on the latter today as he talks with Phil Martelli of Saint Joseph’s, who coached a team that entered the 2004 NCAA tourney without a loss. … Yes, it is baseball season. … Gonzaga signee Corey Kispert had surgery on his foot and will miss the rest of King’s high school basketball season. … Around the WCC, BYU is frustrated as it enters the final week of the regular season.

WSU: Jacob Thorpe examines point guard play and how Ernie Kent’s demands from the position have changed over the course of his coaching career in Sunday’s paper and on the website this morning. … The Cougar women’s basketball team lost in Los Angeles while the baseball team rallied and won in Sacramento. … Around the Pac-12, UW’s Kelsey Plum is second all-time in NCAA women’s basketball scoring, trailing only Jackie Styles. … In men’s action, Oregon State won its first conference game, rallying to get past Utah at home, 68-67. The loss probably ended the Utes’ NCAA hopes. … If Oregon wants to win the conference, it must win on the road and it needs some help. … UCLA is the talk of Shaky Town. … Colorado begins rebuilding its defense as spring football starts. Arizona also is on the field this week.

EWU: Weber State looked as if it was headed to the NCAA tournament a couple weeks ago. Now the Big Sky’s automatic bid looks like it’s a jump ball.

Whitworth: As we said, it’s baseball season.

Preps: The new state basketball format is really upon us this week, with some of the best teams facing tough roads to the tournaments. Teams like Central Valley’s girls, who won the 4A title last year, have yet to lose this one and are ranked 5th in the RPI. Greg Lee has all the info in this story. … The view from the West Side, with some hard-to-fathom early matchups, is about the same. … Bill Pierce’s history lesson this week takes us back to the dawn of the girls’ state basketball tournaments. My wife, Kim, was playing then in Southern California, though there wasn’t a state tournament like here. Throughout her college career, the NCAA wasn’t involved and they used the same sized basketball as the men. Times have really changed.

Mariners: If you think it was only the fans that had trouble following Jerry DiPoto’s offseason moves, think again. Even the players were a little confused. At least Nelson Cruz was. … Cruz thinks the M’s are ready to win the A.L. West. … One of DiPoto’s new players will lead the way at the plate and in the field. … If someone in the rotation falters in spring, Angel Miranda will be ready.

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• No baseball in Spokane today. It’s warm enough at 45 degrees or so, but there’s still plenty of snow on the ground and rain falling from the sky. Just have to keep focusing on basketball on this Presidents’ Day. Until later …