A Grip on Sports: The first chance to eliminate Detroit slipped through the Mariners’ fingers Wednesday, leaving a must-win game Friday

A GRIP ON SPORTS • One more cross-country flight. One more chance. One more home game. And, just maybe, one more “we had it in our hands and let it slip away” moment.

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• The moment that might live in infamy among the Mariner faithful popped up suddenly Wednesday afternoon in Detroit.

Bryce Miller, making his first career postseason start, was rolling. After a season that was more fits and starts than ups and downs, the young righthander was in total control of the Tigers. Fifty-five pitches in. Protecting a 3-0 lead – that could, maybe even should, have been much more. The fifth inning.

Sure, Miller, who hasn’t pitched all that much recently, had lost a couple miles per hour on his fastball since the first couple innings. And, sure, the Tigers were about to turn the lineup over again. But, really, Miller was still dealing.

Until Dan Wilson took the ball out of his hand and went to the bullpen.

It seemed way-too-Seattle-like. Mainly because it smelled like teen spirit, if by that you mean panic. And an ill-gotten hope your bullpen could get you to the finish line once more.

Hope, it is said, wisely, is not a strategy. Especially when you’ve been relying on the emotion way too much lately.

Let’s be clear. Going to Gabe Speier has been a winning strategy pretty much every time he’s emerged from the bullpen recently. But it seemed awful early to go to your only reliable lefthanded option. There were still more than a dozen outs needed to move on to the American League championship series against the Blue Jays.

Outs the bullpen never got.

Speier got lit up by the Tigers’ platoon hitters. So did everyone else who came in. From the moment Wilson made the change until Randy Arozarena struck out to end the 9-3 loss, the M’s did nothing right.

Detroit? The Tigers get on their Seattle-bound charter knowing momentum rides with them. And if that’s defined as the next game’s starter, they have Tarik Skubal, the best in baseball most of 2025.

Except, it seems, against the Mariners. In the regular season he faced them twice. Was 0-2. Gave up seven runs. Posted an earned run average almost six. Was better in his game two start this series. But still gave up two runs in seven innings and the Tigers lost.

In a season, regular and post, in which he’s lost just six games, Seattle will try to hang a third on the Seattle U alum.

It won’t be easy. The M’s will counter Friday night with either George Kirby or Luis Castillo. Maybe both – and any other starter that’s available to help relieve the pressure on an over-pressed relief corps.

Then again, maybe when Wilson emerges from the dugout and saunters to the mound, Kirby may just channel his Furious George persona and refuse to leave. It couldn’t turn out worse than what happened Wednesday.

• The Yankees didn’t do the Seattle fans any favors. If they had found a way to force a fifth game in their Division series with the Jays, then Friday’s winner-take-all in Seattle would have started around 1 p.m. Instead, the SoDo magic will have to happen without many Husky fans in attendance, costing the home team their unique type of vocal support and putting a crimp in the T-Mobile Chardonnay sales as well.

The Big Ten decided this was a good weekend to have UW play at home. On a Friday night. At 6. Against that noted Midwestern power and Washington rival, Rutgers.

Wait a minute. Maybe the Husky Stadium crowd will be the one taking the hit. After all, even those of you whose closet is filled with purple would weigh a non-descript Big Ten matchup as something less than all that is on the line in T-Mobile tomorrow night. Right?

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WSU: Wonder what Jim Sweeney or Jim Walden would think of “hot yoga” as a part of the Cougars’ training regimen. Not much I’m sure. But I’m also pretty confident Mike Price is reading Greg Woods’ story today on the Cougs’ use of the stretching and saying “I wish I had thought of that.” Though Mike might have showed up to the first session wearing stretchy black pants and sporting an Ole Miss yoga mat to rip apart in front of the team.

Preps: The weekend football action begins tonight. Which means Dave Nichols’ preview is in today’s S-R. … Cheryl Nichols has the roundup of Wednesday’s GSL action.

Gonzaga: The men had the keys to the Kennel last Saturday. Went Krazy. Then left the building. The women will occupy it this Saturday. Another annual event. FanFest. Good thing too. There are a lot of new faces for the GU fans to get to know. Greg Lee begins that process with this preview of the 3 p.m. event. … Mark Few’s special recruiting guest last week, Sam Funches, has narrowed his list of teams to four. It includes Gonzaga. And three SEC schools. Theo Lawson has more in this story.

Mariners: We shared our thoughts above. Now it’s time to let others share theirs. All eyes will be on Seattle tomorrow night, what with the Yankees out and the possibility the Dodgers could have eliminated Philadelphia by then.

Kraken: As the NHL season gets going, the new members of the roster are counting their blessings. The real question is, will this season be a blessing or a continuation of the recent cursed results?

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• Sorry we weren’t able to have this on the website by the usual deadline. And that it wasn’t as complete as usual. Until later …