A Grip on Sports: The ultimate aspect of an ‘if-only” weekend in Seattle? ‘If only’ the Mariners had held on to win Saturday
A GRIP ON SPORTS • The weekend that just finished featured four professional sporting events in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood, any one of which on their own qualified as a shouldn’t-be-missed happening. Too bad Sunday mirrored Saturday and the Seattle teams were only able to earn a split.
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• And even the split wasn’t exactly perfect.
A Sounders’ win Saturday night, even if it was over archrival Portland, wasn’t enough to offset a it-was-right-in-their-grasp Mariner loss to open the American League Division Series with Detroit. Maybe for the younger, futball-loving generation but not for those of us who are stuck in our ways – and have been for decades.
Then again, even a person who wears a Sounders scarf to church on Sunday morning may be able to recognize a playoff game trumps a regular-season match any time.
Which is the logic that should be put into play when evaluating Sunday’s SoDo results. Ya, the Seahawks were only three healthy defensive backs away from dominating visiting Tampa Bay. But that’s the NFL. The injuries were the prime mover behind their 38-35 last-second loss to the Bucs. Just remember, it was one of 17 games over the course of the season. It hurts, and may hurt badly in a few months, but at this moment it does not qualify as failing in a must-win contest.
That honor, after Saturday’s fumble, was held by the competition taking place across the street.
Before 47,371 in T-Mobile, who did their best to imitate the 68,804 who crammed into Lumen Field earlier in the day. Not sure how many of the more than 115,000 total overlapped but what a lucky day for those folks, huh? Well, it could have been better. If only (fill in the blank).
You have your choice of at least a handful of “if onlys” in the Hawk game.
If only any of the five defense starters – three in the secondary – who missed all or part of the loss were healthy enough to make a difference. If only Jason Myers hadn’t missed an early field goal. If only Sam Darnold’s last pass was like his first 33 – pretty near perfect.
It wasn’t, deflected off a helmet and into Tampa’s hands, and Baker Mayfield’s Bucs had another comeback win.
There were a lot more “if onlys” across the street after, but two came through and that was enough.
M’s fans have been saying “if only Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez can get hot at the same time” for much of the season. It seems to be happening in the “post” part of it. At least they both came through in the bottom of the eighth, with the score tied at 2 and Detroit possibly heading home only needing to win one game to move on.
Raleigh doubled down the line. Rodriguez followed with another down the opposite line. A double-double for dinner? Yes, please. The M’s led 3-2. And, thanks to another perfect inning from Andres Munoz, the series is tied heading east.
Another “if only” that came up big for Seattle? The “if only” aimed at scoring a couple of runs off Tiger ace (and former Seattle U. pitcher) Tarik Skubal. All it took was two swings from Jorge Polanco. Yep, the same guy who many M’s fans addressed after last season as Mr. If Only. As in “man, it would help if only he would move on.” He didn’t. Like Richard Gere in “An Officer and A Gentleman,” Polanco had nowhere else to go. Facing that reality, he re-signed with Seattle in the offseason.
And hit two screaming solo home runs of Skubal on Sunday. Two home runs that came close to being enough – if only Matt Brash hadn’t served up a sinker to Spencer Torkelson in the top of the eighth. That meatball was roped into right field and resulted in a 2-2 game.
The last hope? If only Skubal’s tank was empty. Turns out it was.
Former Washington National closer Kyle Finnegan was on the mound in the eighth. And it turns out he was no match for the Raleigh-Rodriguez duo.
If only this one time.
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WSU: The bye week is finished. Washington State plays at No. 4 Ole Miss this Saturday, with the game starting at 9:45 a.m. If you want to watch, you need access to the SEC Network. … Former WSU quarterback Cam Ward wasn’t on a bye week, though his Tennessee Titans had yet to say hello to a win in 2025. Until yesterday in Arizona. Colton Clark covers the Titans’ comeback in his weekly look at local players in the NFL. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, before we start looking forward, we have to look back one more day. To Seattle, where the Washington defense, bit badly by the injury bug, played a huge role in the comeback win over Maryland. … Jon Wilner has his Pac-12 2.0 power rankings in the Mercury News. Like Oregon in the Associated Press poll, the Cougars’ spot changed without playing. In WSU’s case it was an improvement of one. The Ducks (and others) went the other way. … John Canzano empties his notebook after a full weekend. … Its coach says California has to mature a bit before it can win consistently.
• Here is the rest of the (current, old and future) Pac-12 schedule this week, listed chronologically. All games are on Saturday unless noted. The schedule below also includes any game in which finding news about turned out to be nearly impossible.
– Rutgers at Washington (6 p.m. Friday, FS1): It’s a short week for the Huskies but maybe that’s a good thing. After all, they should be pumped up after their rally in Maryland.
– Fresno State at Colorado State (6 p.m. Friday, CBS Sports): Wouldn’t it be great if the Mountain West showdown turns into a preview of what the Pac-12 After Dark persona will be like next season?
– UCLA at Michigan State (9 a.m., Big Ten): Jerry Neuheisel has been around UCLA much of his adult life. He probably never had a better Saturday than the one he experienced over the weekend. … The same can be said about the Bruins – and Florida.
– Stanford at SMU (9, The CW): The Cardinal may not be winning games but the program is winning in another way.
– No. 7 Indiana at No. 3 Oregon (12:30 p.m., CBS): The poll changes really does not impact the matchup at all. Heck, the two numbers combined still add up to 10.
– No. 22 Iowa State at Colorado (12:30, ESPN): The Buffs are struggling. And struggling to keep the locker room together.
– Wake Forest at Oregon State (12:30, The CW): The Beavers’ 0-6 record had to be addressed. It was Sunday, costing an assistant coach his job. Will that be the end of the changes? … Jake Dickert is headed back to Corvallis with the Deacons.
– No. 15 Michigan at USC (4:30, NBC): The Trojans may face a financial decision soon.
– No. 18 BYU at Arizona (5, ESPN2): There is little time for the Wildcats to revel in another win. A ranked foe is visiting.
– Troy at Texas State (5, ESPN+): Late-game failures sent the Bobcats to defeat Saturday.
– New Mexico at Boise State (6:45, FS1): For some reason, Bronco players feel they could still make the playoffs. Sorry, even winning out won’t get them there.
– No. 21 Arizona State at Utah (7:15, ESPN): In a matchup of old Pac-12 foes, the Sun Devils know the Utes well. And there is a good chance this will be one of the old “after dark” games.
– San Diego State at Nevada (7:30, CBS Sports): Sean Lewis had a lot to say after his Aztecs won at Colorado State.
– Utah State at Hawaii (9 p.m.): This may be a must-win game for the Aggies – if they want to win the Mountain West title.
EWU and Idaho: Around the (current and future) Big Sky, fifth-ranked Montana State is not as dominant as it was last season. Which made the win at No. 13 Northern Arizona even sweeter. … UC Davis is happy to keep a hold of the Golden Horseshoe trophy. … Paul Wulff is doing great work with Cal Poly.
Mariners: Of course we had our say above. But that’s not all we can pass along as Seattle won a home playoff game for the first time since your 24-year-old daughter was born. Jacob Thorpe was in T-Mobile and he has this column for the S-R. … There are the Times’ stories in the S-R as well, plus a few more that didn’t make it. … National coverage? Sure, we found that. And we send you to the places where, hopefully, you can read all you want. … Raleigh is making a Honey Bucket full of endorsement money. … The M’s playoff hopes rely on winning on the road. They’ve been in this position before. Recently in fact.
Seahawks: We treaded a bit lightly concerning the Hawks’ loss, if only because we were busy navigating California traffic during the game. Or taking a nap, not sure which. It was not available at the house we were visiting anyhow. But we pass along the views of those who actually had a view, including Dave Boling, who has this S-R column. And a game story from the Times’ Bob Condotta. … There are always grades. And instant impressions. Even occasionally honors. … The national media also checked in with a little of this and that.
Reign: With a chance to make a statement, Seattle only was able to earn a draw with Gotham.
Kraken: Is Lane Lambert the answer behind the bench?
Storm: Las Vegas is up 2-0 in the WNBA finals against Phoenix.
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• Watching sports on TV is much easier from home than when you are on the road. That is one thing the past few weeks have taught me once again. Lesson learned. We will be home by the weekend. Until later …