A Grip on Sports: We welcome in June with baseball, softball and other summer sports – including hockey – this weekend

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We made it to Friday. That means something in our world, even if we do not work a 9-to-5 job. It means, this week, our health is getting better and, every week, we look toward the weekend’s TV schedule.

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• Actually, with all the announcements concerning the fall’s college football games made Thursday, we will even look down the road a bit. But that’s for later. In the here and now there is … what, exactly?

The Mariners on Apple TV+ for the streaming service’s game tonight (7:10) for one thing. Is it just us or have the M’s played a disproportionate number of times on Apple’s foray into MLB? Seems that way. Maybe it’s because Apple sees Seattle as a forward-thinking, tech-savvy area that will embrace its service.

To that, we have two things to say: Thanks Bill Gates for ruining the city’s reputation by putting Microsoft in the area; and doesn’t anyone in Cupertino remember it was Seattle-based University of Washington that submarined the company’s deal with the Pac-12?

Please let us just watch the M’s the old-fashioned way, will you? On a regional sports network that is overpriced and underwhelming.

At least the M’s are hosting the Angels, which means we get to watch Mike Trout and Shohei … oh, wait. Trout is hurt and Ohtani is playing up I-5 from Anaheim. One silver lining? The other two games of the series are easier to access, with Saturday’s on Fox (4:15 p.m.) and Sunday back to Root (1:10 p.m.).

If you are wedded to seeing the last gasps of Pac-12 sports, you have a few opportunities. There are two teams still playing in the softball World Series, though that number could be down to one today if Stanford loses again. The Cardinal play Oklahoma State at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Three conference schools will begin their NCAA baseball journey today, with Oregon State hosting Tulane (6 p.m., ESPN2) and Oregon taking on WCC champion San Diego (noon, ESPNU). Arizona is on ESPN+, as are the other West Coast teams, including our personal favorite, UC Irvine (against Nicholls State in Corvallis at 1 p.m.)

The NHL playoffs have the weekend to themselves, as the NBA conference finals ended last night with Dallas’ rout in Minnesota. There are a few days before Boston and the Mavericks square off in the finals.

But tonight, you can watch Edmonton and Dallas, tied at two-games apiece, play the all-important game five in their series (5:30, TNT). Florida grabbed a 3-2 lead in its series with New York last night with a 3-2 road win. The Panthers try to close out the Rangers on Saturday night (5, ABC).

Other than that, the weekend’s golf lost some luster when LPGA star Nelly Korda posted a 10 – and an 80 overall – on her third hole Friday during the Women’s U.S. Open. To make the cut she probably has to shoot a 64 on a course that yielded only four rounds in the 60s on Friday, the lowest being 68.

• There was a container ship full of football TV news Thursday and that seems a ripe metaphor, especially if you are interested in the former and current Pac-12 schools. Better be ready for Friday, Saturday and who knows what other days searching through your cable or satellite or streaming options to watch those schools.  

Let’s take the Huskies, shall we? The school that helped sink the Pac-12 because its former football coach wanted to be on linear broadcasts, not with Apple, is going to start the season not being on Saturday’s main broadcasts.

Their first five games include one on Peacock (the Apple Cup, Sept. 14 from Lumen Field at 12:30 p.m.), two Saturday games on the Big Ten Network and two Friday night games on Fox. Just what Kalen DeBoer was looking for, right?

And all those Saturday night games everyone hated so much when they were in the Pac-12? The 7:30 spot on ESPN will be dominated by the four conference schools that left for the Big 12.

• This could be a special year for the Mariners. The American League West is struggling, the M’s have the best pitching in the division and seem just a bat or two away from securing a playoff berth. Which begs a couple questions. Will the franchise try to grab the brass ring? Or will there be minimal movement, once again trying to patch the holes and hoping retreads carry them to the finish line?

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WSU: Football TV times on the top of your list right now? Then Greg Woods has you covered. Print out his story. It has a list of every game, with only a few times still to be determined. … If the rebuild of the basketball program is more important to you, than you are in luck as well. Greg has this story on Cedric Coward, who helped new coach Dave Riley’s EWU team win back-to-back Big Sky regular season titles, is headed to Pullman. … Nostalgic for the time when Klay Thompson played in Beasley? Then we’ve got you covered there as well. With a story that will make you feel old. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has some news, including a story on football’s early TV times. But he has more in the Mercury News, including the coverage of a settlement between the conference and two Pac-12 Network executives who were fired after the Comcast fiasco. They swore they told Larry Scott the particulars. Seems as if the conference believes them. … Wilner also takes a look at the month of June, the most important football recruiting one on the schedule. … The NCAA has reached agreement with the Department of Justice. No more rules limiting transfers. And those who had to sit out in the past few years? They have received another year of eligibility. One of them is Utah quarterback Cam Rising, who could enjoy an eighth year on campus. … The Utes’ recruiting strategy has changed some. … How did Washington do in the 2020 recruiting class? … USC’s defense may be better just because of who is in charge. … Yes, we have football times for a bunch of schools, including Cal and Stanford. Also, Oregon and Oregon State. Colorado. Utah. Arizona. … On the baseball fields today, Oregon hopes to emerge from Santa Barbara as the lone team standing. … The depth of the teams at Oregon State and Arizona are among the best in the tournament. … The Wildcats feel they are in every game. … UCLA rode a late home run to a 4-1 first-round win at the softball World Series. The Bruins have the day off. … We mentioned Arizona State’s great men’s basketball recruiting class yesterday. The Sun Devils lost one of them Thursday. … Arizona got some expected good roster news this week. … The rebuild for the women at Oregon State continues.

Gonzaga: For a long time in the early part of this century, the Zags won and won and won. But producing impactful NBA players wasn’t a common occurrence. Those days are gone. Theo Lawson looks at the 11 Bulldogs in the league and how their seasons went.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, there is also TV news for Montana and Montana State. … Idaho State is looking for a new cross country coach.

Preps: Twin brothers playing high school football isn’t common, but it also isn’t rare. But twin brothers, one of whom does the kicking and the other snapping the ball on those kicks, that’s pretty infrequent. And when they decide to continue doing it together at the next level, that’s unusual to say the least. Samantha DiMaio has this story.

Indians: The first complete game in the minor leagues this season occurred last night in Everett. Spokane’s Sean Sullivan turned it in. But he didn’t get a win. The Indians lost 1-0. Dave Nichols has the story. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, host Hillsboro pulled into a second-place tie with Eugene thanks to a 4-0 shutout. … Vancouver tossed the third shutout of the night, topping Tri-City 3-0 in Canada.

Mariners: The pressure the M’s starting pitchers face isn’t unprecedented. We are reminded of a surely apocryphal story from the mid-1960s, when Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale anchored the Dodgers’ staff and carried the light-hitting team to success. As the story goes, Koufax was pitching at home against the Cubs. Drysdale, slated to start the next game, went early to Philadelphia so as to be rested. When he checked into his hotel, the clerk asked him if he had heard what Koufax had done that day. No, replied Drysdale. “He threw a perfect game.” Drysdale looked up and asked one question. “Did he win?” Funny. Probably false. Also illustrative of what the Mariners’ starters feel every time they take the mound. Logan Gilbert was solid Thursday. But solid is not good enough when your teammates can’t score. The M’s lost 4-0 and failed to sweep the Astros. … J.P. Crawford’s dogs became viral video stars. … Dylan Moore earns a mention in this national column.

Storm: Seattle went into Indianapolis, battered around Caitlin Clark and won its fourth consecutive game, topping the Fever 103-88.

Seahawks: Injuries are slowing the implementation of Mike MacDonald’s defense. … Sam Howell likes the Hawks’ new offense and being in Seattle.

Horse racing: One of the top trainers at Playfair over the years, Dan McCanna, died a couple weeks ago at age 90. Jim Price has McCanna’s obituary.

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• We woke up feeling better today. Not all that much better, but better. We are going to try to do more. Take a shower. Maybe even leave the house. Attend a Zoom call for our 50th high school reunion – yes, we volunteered to help. Darn technology making things like that possible. We’ll be back here tomorrow. Unless we overwork ourselves. We’ve done it before. Until later …