A Grip on Sports: A 51 doubleheader will be held in the T-Mobile rafters starting next year as the M’s decide to finally welcome back Randy Johnson

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The plan was to take a break. A hiatus, if you will, from Mariner commentary this morning. After all, this space has been dominated by their successes and failures – pretty much a dead heat – this season. I did not count on off-day news.

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• Then again, news is rarely something you can count on. The name makes that clear. New. As in 2026 there will be a new, well, sort of, number hanging in the T-Mobile rafters. All is forgiven Randy Johnson.

The franchise, and more than likely the fans too, are will to forget the ugly manner in which you forced your way out of town back in the day – no matter how you spin it these days. The dreadful attitude displayed in the first half of the 1998 season, which made it clear you weren’t signing back. In retrospect, the breakup forced a few months early was good for Seattle, considering Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen and John Halama was the haul.

None of them Hall of Famers, sure. But key parts of the early 2000s success.

Johnson was easily the best lefthanded starting pitcher the Mariners ever had. Yes, better than Jamie Moyer or my old teammate and neighbor, Matt Young. Mark Langston and Floyd Bannister even. Heck, maybe better than all of them added together.

In his 10 years as a Mariner, Johnson won 130 games. Struck out 2,162 hitters. In 1,838.1 innings. Won the 1995 Cy Young Award. Came out of the bullpen in the American League Division Series that season, held the Yankees in check and was the winning pitcher in Seattle’s 6-5, ALCS-earning victory.

In fact, without Johnson’s dogged performance – he had pitched seven innings two days before – there would never have been Edgar’s double and the dogpile.

Johnson’s decade of dominance makes him an easy choice for the jersey retirement – even if his number, 51, will already be in the rafters representing Ichiro, an event scheduled for Aug. 9.

That event, coupled with Cal Raleigh’s spectacular season (a continuation of his improvement throughout the first five years of his career), had me thinking this morning if a new look at the M’s all-time starting lineup was in order.

Why not? How’s this one?

Rightfielder: Ichiro. That’s a no-brainer, right, not just in right but leading off.

Second baseman: Robinson Cano. If you still feel Cano’s five-year tenure in Seattle was a failure, think again. He’s sixth on the team’s career WAR list and hit nearly .300 in his stay.

Designated hitter: Edgar Martinez. Again, a no-brainer.

Centerfielder: Ken Griffey Jr. Not only the best player to wear the uniform, he was also the most-imitated athlete for a Northwest generation that is rapidly reaching middle age.

Shortstop: Alex Rodriguez. OK, so he did it, whatever you mean by “it.” Steroids. Abandoned the city. Was a pompous (insert preferred noun here). He still was incredible on the field.

Third baseman: Kyle Seager or Adrian Beltre. Value longevity? How about spectacular excellence? The tiebreaker for me? Seager was a pro’s pro. So was Beltre, but for a shorter period in Seattle.

Catcher: Raleigh. Dan Wilson has lived in this spot for years. He is now subletting it to Raleigh.

First baseman: Alvin Davis or, if you are willing to risk the defensive issues (and injury risk), Nelson Cruz.

Leftfielder: Is there a way to keep one position empty? If not, how about we just let Jay Buhner slide over? If you are going to hold me to a true leftfielder, I would pick Phil Bradley. After all, he hit .301 in his five-year Mariner career.

Right-handed starting pitcher: Felix Hernandez. Simply the most-admired M’s pitcher ever. A warrior. A Cy Young winner. A perfect game. And more sob-inducing losses than any one person should ever have to endure.

Left-handed starting pitcher: Johnson. There is no other choice.

Closer: Kaz Sasaki. Not a deep pool here. Sasaki’s short stint in Seattle resulted in 20 more saves (129) than anyone. Runner-up Edwin Diaz probably would have been the record-holder if sure-fire Hall of Famer Jarred Kelenic had not been available in the Cano salary-dump deal with the Mets in 2018. (Yes, that’s sarcasm.)

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WSU: What did we say yesterday? Ya, that’s right. Recruiting never stops. Washington State kept its football roll going with Landon Kalsbeck, a three-star recruit from Colorado. Greg Woods has the story. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, not only does recruiting never stop, neither do stories about it. … It continued for Oregon. … John Canzano’s Monday mailbag only seems like it will never stop this week. OK, that’s a joke. It does. But there were enough good answers we sort of wish it had gone on longer. … Boise State will have a former basketball player on its football team next season. One who has Tri-City ties. … In baseball news, Oregon State and UCLA will host Super Regionals this weekend. Arizona will play, but on the road at North Carolina. … The Beavers earned their berth by bashing USC yesterday 9-0. After losing to open the Corvallis Regional, OSU rolled to four consecutive wins. … By the way, transferring never stops either. … We mentioned yesterday a brouhaha at one of the regionals (and had an error that has been fixed). We feel like we also should mention the apology. … In Oklahoma City, former Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady has been worth the money – more than a million dollars – for Texas Tech as she pitched the Red Raiders past Oklahoma on Monday and into the Women’s College World Series finals.

Gonzaga: Jon Wilner revises his Mercury News too-early top 25 – what, the other one was way too early? – after the NBA draft decisions. And he moves up the Zags three notches, to 19.

Preps: Idaho has become a go-to state for big-time college football recruiters. Even more so now that the Pac-12 has fractured.

Indians: There are rarely games on Mondays during the Northwest League’s schedule. Which means the day is perfect for Dave Nichols to put together a notebook with odds and ends from the recent past.

Seahawks: The OTAs are underway. Yesterday’s was open for observation. And we can pass along said observations, from the Times, the News Tribune and The Athletic. The defense seems to be the emphasis.

Kraken: Is Florida really the hotbed of NHL hockey? The Stanley Cup results say yes. The attendance?

Storm: There is a reason one of Seattle’s stars is nicknamed “Top 10.”

Mariners: We linked Matt Calkins’ column on Raleigh when it ran in the Times. It is on the S-R website this morning.

Horse racing: No Triple Crown winner this year. But the next best thing in Saturday’s Belmont. The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners are in the field. And by “next best thing,” we are sort of glossing over a mile-wide chasm.

Sonics: Speaking of such things, we linked Jerry Brewers’ column on the Thunder and Sonics in the Washington Post. And once again, as it is on the S-R website.

Sounders: A third one. The story on Seattle’s Club World Cup payout protest is also on the S-R site. … What will almost $20 million in Lumen Field improvements mean for the Club World Cup?

Golf: For the second time, former Community Colleges of Spokane golfer Brady Calkins has qualified for the U.S. Open. Jim Meehan has more in this story.

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• It is sort of funny, in an odd way, how the M’s have never really had a standout leftfielder. Not for lack of trying. It just has been a dead zone throughout the franchise’s nearly half-century of existence. Until later …