A Grip on Sports: Keep those presents under wraps a little while longer folks. A Christmas-in-October Mariners World Series berth is still not assured

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Here we are, looking through frost-covered windows on a Tuesday and still enthralled by the baseball season. Seems odd, doesn’t it? At least in the Pacific Northwest. As the tomato plants fight for life, usually it’s time to start focusing on college basketball.

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• To be fair, there is no frost on my window. It’s just cold enough outside for that to be a possibility. And I will mention hoops. Have to. The Associated Press preseason poll was released Monday and anyone commenting on Spokane-area sports is contractually obligated to have an opinion on it.

Does pffffffff qualify?

OK, so I’ll get there. But, as they say, first a few words from our sponsors. The firm of Rodriguez, Naylor and Polanco.

The Mariners scored 10 runs in Toronto on Monday. Not all that odd. They scored nine the last time they played the second game of a postseason series in Canada and won that one too.

Difference is, that was a best of three. And the 2022 win moved Seattle into the next round. This time? All it did was give the M’s a leg up heading home. OK, a Shaq-sized leg, sure, but last I checked, it still takes four wins to win the American League title and move on to the promised land.

So, please, tamp down your enthusiasm. Continue to dine on your fingernails. Do not lose track of your lucky talisman. Keep checking your phone for news on Bryan Woo’s status. But don’t start talking to your buddies about who Dan Wilson might start in the Series opener in Milwaukee.

Not that it would jinx anything. That’s impossible. You, me, the lady down the street with the M’s flag, we don’t have anything to do with the outcome. Never have. Never will. Unless she plops down a few thousand bucks, gets a seat close enough to the action to yell at Vladimir Guerrero Jr. loudly enough he quits and goes home.

Barring that, all the little things fans do are aimed at keeping their sanity in insane times. Which is why I’m cautioning you about getting ahead of the curve on the Series talk.

After Monday’s 10-3 win, with an offense powered by Julio Rodriguez, Josh Naylor and, as has been the case for the last couple weeks, Jorge Polanco, Seattle is in the driver’s seat. Two lengths ahead in a four-length race. But a blown tire can happen any moment. And having already mentally locked in what has never happened before could be a staggering mental blow no one should have to endure.

After almost 50 years of waiting, can’t everyone just wait another few days before celebrating? As Father Edna used to tell us in our marriage and family class, it’s better to wait until Christmas morning to open your presents than to kill the suspense on Christmas Eve.

Yes, he was talking about, well, you know. And I’m not sure how many of the 20 or so 17-year-old males in the class actually listened. But he was right. If George Kirby and Luis Castillo deal like Blake Snell on Wednesday and Thursday and the M’s do clinch that elusive World Series trip, it will be just like Christmas Day in the Northwest. Better even.

There’s no snow on the ground and nobody has to return any of the presents.

There are still a few days to go until the big day. Be excited. Be engaged. Be energetic. But just enjoy the moment. Enjoy what has happened. Enjoy what may come. And be ready to jump for joy if they M’s get it done.

• To continue my Christmas theme, I give you the 60 or so Grinches who voted in the A.P. preseason basketball Top 25.

West Coast hoops? What’s that? UCLA. Arizona. Gonzaga. No one else. And even then, I’m not sure anyone understands just how good the Bulldogs will be this season. Mark Few’s team landed 21st. Just behind Auburn, who is rebuilding under a nepo baby, and just ahead of Tom Izzo’s 30th Michigan State team.

That’s way too low. For the Zags. And Izzo’s team too, but that’s immaterial to my point.

Just because Gonzaga lost just about every guard on the roster doesn’t mean the Bulldogs are destined to struggle all season. Not with the transfer class Few and his staff brought in.

It’s obvious this year’s ranking is an overreaction to last season, when the Zags were overvalued to start – sixth in the preseason poll – and struggled through a tough nonconference slate.

The schedule is just as daunting, if not more so this season but this group seems better positioned to handle it. It’s not just the bigs, Graham Ike and Braden Huff, the best pair in the nation. It’s the abilities of the wings and guards, little-known around the nation but as solid a group as Few has ever attracted in this brave new AAU-like world of college basketball.

The ranking won’t last, though. The November and December schedule will ensure that. No. 9 Kentucky. No. 12 UCLA. No. 15 Alabama. No. 23 Creighton. Maybe more numbers depending on how the early season goes.

They will win some. And they will be one of the 10-best teams in the nation at some point.

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WSU: One cross-country road trip to play a ranked school is over. Another one looms. The Cougars are in Charlottesville this Saturday – I recommend staying at the Boar’s Head Resort if there is room – for a showdown with the 18th-ranked Cavaliers. Greg Woods has his first look at the Cougs’ second consecutive major test. … Jimmy Rogers talked about the week ahead yesterday, though, as Greg tells us, he would not delve into the team’s injuries. Maybe next season the Pac-12 will adopt the new normal of releasing an injury report. If it really is a power conference, I mean. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has his power rankings for the Big 12 and Big Ten on the Mercury News site this morning. … John Canzano has a mailbag that has a lot of Oregon State questions – and a couple of Nick Rolovich mentions. … Colorado is on a bye this week. … So is Boise State. The Broncos meet undefeated UNLV next. … Could Fresno State make some offensive changes during its bye week? … San Diego State just wants to improve. … Same with Utah State.

• Here are the rest of the (current, old and future) Pac-12 games this week, listed chronologically. All games this week are on Saturday unless noted. The schedule below also includes any game in which mining news about turned out to be nearly impossible.

– San Jose State at Utah State (Friday, 6 p.m., CBS Sports Network) 

– North Carolina at Cal (Friday, ESPN): Bill Belichick had to calm rumors he was bailing on the Tar Heels. That’s never good before a game.

– Washington at Michigan (9 a.m., Fox): Jedd Fisch met with the media Monday and, as always, the Huskies’ coach had a lot to say.

– Arizona at Houston (9, FS1): The Wildcats’ head coach is standing by his late-game decisions in the BYU loss.

– Texas State at Marshall (12:30 p.m., ESPN+) 

– No. 7 Texas Tech at Arizona State (1, Fox): The Sun Devils are going to be missing some key players for the rest of the season.

– No. 8 Oregon at Rutgers (3:30, Big Ten Network): The Ducks have never played Rutgers before. Or made the trip to New Jersey for a conference game. The past made a lot more sense.

– Maryland at UCLA (4, FS1): The Bruins interim coach is just enjoying what he is doing. Credit? Give that to someone else. 

– Hawaii at Colorado State (4, Mountain West Network): Playing at home is a big advantage for the Rams.

– No. 20 USC at No. 13 Notre Dame (4:30, NBC): The Big Ten hit the Trojans with a $5,000 fine for playing a running back against Michigan who was listed as “out” on the pregame injury reports. … A former USC quarterback has written a memoir. I’m guessing it won’t be for sale in your local McDonald’s. And if you understand that reference, you’re old.

– No. 23 Utah at No. 15 BYU (5, Fox): Two coaches. Two ways to deal with a rivalry game. The Utes’ Kyle Whittingham would not talk about the Cougars. BYU’s Kalani Sitake praised the opponents to high heaven. Appropriate in a rivalry game dubbed The Holy War.

– Lafayette at Oregon State (7, The CW): What will the FCS school bring to Corvallis? … And how will the Beavers’ new-look coaching staff respond? Robb Akey made some changes Monday.

– Florida State at Stanford (7:30, ESPN)

• In basketball news, no Oregon in the men’s poll. The Ducks received votes. … Colorado has undergone a roster renovation. … Arizona is in a pretty usual spot in the poll, sitting at 13. … Utah State put on a show for the home fans. … The Colorado women have set a new standard under J.R. Payne.

Gonzaga: Jim Meehan has the coverage of the A.P. men’s poll release. We linked his story above and do it again here. … Theo Lawson has this story on Drew Timme’s latest NBA news. The center was cut loose by Brooklyn on Monday.

Idaho: Three consecutive losses can cause angst in a locker room. But according to Peter Harriman, the Vandals are adamant no one is pointing fingers. … Elsewhere in the (current and future) Big Sky, the transfer portal changes seem to agree with Montana State’s and Montana’s coaches. … Northern Colorado’s upset of the Vandals earned the team and its players some recognition.

Preps: Monday was for upsets in district slowpitch softball play. Lewis and Clark, over Chiawana, and Ferris, over top-seed Mead, won Monday and will play for the district title Wednesday. Dave Nichols has more in this roundup.

Mariners: We linked a few stories above, but of course there are more to send your way. We want to call your attention to Mike Vorel’s column on history not being relevant to this group. Fine. But it is to those of us who have followed the franchise for any length of time. … We also want to make sure we link this story on Dave Niehaus’ daughter and his statue.

Kraken: A six-game road trip looms. Not a bad time to get out of Seattle, what with all the noise that will be happening in SoDo.

Seahawks: Byron Murphy II had an eventful week long before he took the field in Jacksonville on Sunday. His fiancé had their newborn a week ago, a baby that arrived three months early. All is well so far. … Can the Hawks keep humming along offensively if they don’t run the ball better? … The defense is more than capable of shutting down the opposition though.

Reign: One of the franchise’s original players is set to retire.

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• The public service announcement above was sparked courtesy of one of my sons after I verbally (and prematurely) put the M’s in the Series last night. He chastised me effusively. And I bow to someone who has been a Mariners’ fan – and all that means – for his entire life. He wants them to win twice more so badly, he will throw anyone who might jinx it under one of those fancy new electric buses. Until later …