A Grip on Sports: Ups and downs occur in sports on a daily basis – or even more often as illustrated in Seattle on Sunday
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Every day has its ups, its downs, its sideways events. Sundays are no exceptions. Not in life. Not in sports. Yesterday was just another example.
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• You know who is up in Seattle? Cal Raleigh. Another home run Sunday in the M’s 2-1 second-day-in-a-row walk-off win against the Twins. That gives the catcher 23 this season. No one else in baseball has as many.
As the weather warms, Luis Castillo is also heating up, tossing another gem and leaving with a 1-0 lead. But in the top of the ninth, the one down popped up.
Andrés Muñoz surrendered his second-consecutive save chance, not only costing Castillo another victory but, seemingly putting the M’s on the road to their fourth straight extra-inning game.
But up came Julio Rodriguez to lead off the ninth. He singled, stole second and went to third on a throwing error. Randy Arozarena then came up big as well, roping a single to center and giving Seattle a get-way-day win.
• Sunday was a little too busy for me to spend any time watching the inevitable happen. But I did find it interesting to watch the highlight videos after Scottie Scheffler won his third PGA tournament in four starts.
Scheffler pulled away to win his second consecutive Memorial, the Tour stop hosted by the game’s GOAT, Jack Nicklaus. The win allowed Jim Nantz and company on CBS to also mention the almost-GOAT’s name, as Tiger Woods is the only other player to have won Nicklaus’ tournament back-to-back years.
• Scheffler’s win also allowed the CBS graphics department to have some fun, putting up a look at the Colorado Rockies and Scheffler’s wins since May 2. Both have three, the Rockies in 28 games, Scheffler in four tournaments.
Now that’s a stark example of ups and downs.
• The Seattle Sounders had been perfect this season at home. Which might have played a role in a crowd of 31,494 showing up Sunday to watch them play the Minnesota United. That throng, though, also received the most Seattle experience possible: a protest.
The Sounders players warmed up in T-shirts protesting the MLS’ decision to have the franchises keep almost every penny of the multi-million payout in the upcoming Club World Cup.
In 2021, the MLS players agreed to a collective bargaining agreement that stipulated how much players would earn from the typical tournaments such as the U.S. Open Cup and the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Tournaments not named? The players total was capped at $1 million.
You want to know what wasn’t on the players’ radar four years ago? FIFA making another money grab and putting together another World Cup, this one for the clubs.
Because the schedule is already so crowded, FIFA threw around a lot more money than usual to get clubs and players involved. Except there wasn’t a chance an MLS club would decline. And its players have a lot less financial incentive as their possible opponents.
The T-shirts read “Club World Ca$h Grab” and “Fair Share Now.” The fans joined in with chants. The MLSPA added support on social media. The MLS office.
Hey, we have an agreement. It’s right here in the CBA. Or something to that effect.
The Great T-shirt Rebellion of 2025 may have moved the needle a hair, but it won’t change the payout. And the Sounders followed it up by a sideways performance, losing 3-2.
• There is only one college sports team that means a lot to me. And it makes me sad every year when their season ends.
That down moment came late last night in Los Angeles, well after this alum had retired for the evening. But UC Irvine’s baseball season had already been sealed, as NCAA regional host UCLA scored eight times in the first four innings and held on for an 8-5 win over the Anteaters.
It was another up season for UCI, who won the Big West regular season title and posted a 43-17 record. But it ended on a down note, short of another trip to Omaha, the top goal for a program who has made the trip twice.
And bummed out at least one former player.
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WSU: What is it we say? Ya, that’s right. Recruiting never stops. Washington State kept its men’s basketball roll going, signing an international point guard, Brunel Madzou, for next season. There is more in this story. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has his summary of the week that was, including the Mike Leach Hall of Fame news. It is in the S-R today. … Yes, football recruiting never stops. Not for Washington. Not for Oregon. … In baseball news, Oregon State stayed alive in its regional, eliminating Saint Mary’s early Sunday then handling USC late in the evening. That win means the Trojans and Beavers meet today to decide the Super Regional participant. … Arizona is already in the Supers, having won Oregon’s regional Sunday. … As we mentioned above, so is UCLA. UC Irvine had earned its late-night spot by crushing Arizona State and eliminating the Sun Devils. … By the way there was a brouhaha in the South prior to Florida’s elimination at East Carolina. It had to do with the field conditions and the Gator coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s reaction to them. Coastal (fixed from earlier) Carolina coach Kevin Schnall went off in his postgame interview. It’s not something that happens often. … In Oklahoma City, the two former Pac-12 schools at softball’s World Series were eliminated. Oregon fell to Oklahoma for the second consecutive season and UCLA was walked-out of the tournament by Tennessee.
Gonzaga: The Bulldogs were not in The Athletic’s first way-too-early top 25 for next season. There was a reason for that oversight. The writer admitted in this next iteration of the ranking he screwed up. He was unaware Graham Ike would be eligible to return. Add that salient fact, along with recent roster additions and CJ Moore has them 14th. That’s tops on the West Coast – hey, Utah is not a coastal state – and one of only four schools west of the Rockies. The others? BYU, UCLA and Arizona. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Saint Mary’s ran out of pitching in Corvallis, gave up 20 runs to host OSU and its baseball season is over.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Northern Colorado made some additions to its women’s basketball coaching staff.
Indians: Charlie Hustle. Shoeless Joe. Famous players recently given a reprieve from the governor of baseball, Rob Manfred. But did you know two of the players MLB commissioner Manfred took off the banned list have connections to the Spokane Indians? Jim Price did. And he shares his knowledge with all of us in this story. … As for the 2025 Indians? They lost 13-4 in Everett, splitting another six-game series. Dave Nichols has the coverage.
Chiefs: Medicine Hat reached the Memorial Cup finals. Only had to defeat last year’s runner-up London a second time to win it. The Tigers couldn’t get it done, falling 4-1.
Mariners: We linked Sunday’s game story above. And here too. … Yes, Raleigh is playing like a superstar. And Castillo is pitching like a No. 1 starter.
Storm: The Commissioner’s Cup did not begin well for Seattle as its rally against Las Vegas came up short.
Sounders: We also linked the S-R’s coverage of the Sounders above, as well as here. … The U.S. Men’s National Team will not have many stars playing in the upcoming Gold Cup. In fact, the roster is basically made up of unknowns.
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• Another day on the road today. It was a successful weekend, sure. And family awaits. But so does a long drive and way too many In-N-Outs from here to there. It’s hard not to stop at least once or seven times. Until later …