Mariners Strike Back versus Astros, Remain Barely Breathing in AL Playoff Chase
A cloud of horror hung above the Houston air as the Mariners began their game on Saturday. The team was fresh off a gut-wrenching 10-inning loss where the difference depended on two squibbers that fell away from the Mariners defense before Christian Walker torched an Andrés Muñoz cookie into Galveston.
And yet they came back from the brink on Saturday, with a lockdown start from Emerson Hancock and a lively offense in the unfriendly confines of Daikin Park, winning 10-5 on the heels of what, more than all the others, could be described as “the worst loss of the year”.
“I think we all kind of felt like that was a great ball game last night, and it was more indicative of who we are as a team,” said M’s manager Dan Wilson on Saturday, even in spite of Friday’s loss. “And so, I think in some ways, it felt like, yes, we didn’t get the result that we wanted, but we played the way we wanted.”
The Mariners played the way they wanted to on Saturday, and this time, they got just the result they needed.
The Mariners offense went to task with runners on, scoring 10 runs despite just one homer.
Seattle’s offense has depended on the home run for years, and since the start of 2025, around half of all their runs have been scored that way. When Saturday’s game began, the team had a .718 OPS with runners in scoring position since the start of 2025, the seventh-worst in baseball.
Despite their aforementioned bullpen disaster, the team’s performance with runners in scoring position on Friday was commendable, as they went 4-for-12 and scored all seven runs without hitting a home run. That trend continued against the admittedly subpar Astros pitchers on Saturday; the Mariners scored 10 runs while going 7-for-17 with runners on second or third.
Kraken the Ice: Busting Out the Trade Machine Seeking Mid-August Upgrades
It's a slow time of the year on the NHL calendar, but it's not out of the question to see trades in the heat of August as teams continue to tweak their rosters for the rapidly approaching new season.
Emerald City Spectrum writer Nick Lee breaks out the trade machine exploring three different deals the Kraken could do to improve their team and/or add draft capital for the future in a jam-packed Kraken the Ice, including the latest idea to move former top-five pick Shane Wright to a hated rival.
‘Absolutely Mind-Boggling': Gonzaga's Mark Few Enshrined in Basketball Hall of Fame
Mark Few has accomplished a lot in his career.
He has taken the Gonzaga Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament every year since he became head coach, boasts the highest all-time winning percentage for a college coach, and has been part of a gold medal for Team USA at the Olympics.
Now nearing the end of his coaching career at 63, Few was officially inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday. In Springfield, Massachusetts, Few, Doc Rivers, Mike D’Antoni, Amar’e Stoudemire, Candace Parker, Elena Della Donne, Chamique Holdscraw, Joey Crawford, and the 1996 USA Women’s national team were enshrined into hoops immortality as the Class of 2026.
Starting from humble beginnings, Few’s journey is a story laced with consistency, staying ahead of the curve, and teamwork. Being at the helm of one of the nation’s most successful programs over the last three decades, Few earns one of the sport’s most prestigious honors.
“To be here standing where I am today is absolutely mind-boggling,” Few said during his Hall of Fame speech. “…People have asked me, ‘Is this a dream come true?’, and I’m telling you, I couldn’t even think about dreaming such a thing where I came from.”
Defensive Front, Safeties Make Marks in Huskies Saturday Scrimmage
Creating havoc with the defensive front was one of the Huskies’ stated goals for the 2026 season.
Mission accomplished.
The defense landed the most punches — literally in one instance — during Saturday night’s scrimmage at Husky Stadium. The No. 1 offense countered with some strong moments of its own among a 125-play scrimmage, about half of which featured live tackling.
Overall, UW head coach Jedd Fisch was pleased with what he saw from his team 22 days ahead of the Sept. 6, season-opening Apple Cup against Washington State.
“Overall, though, very hard to assess because you're going against each other, going against the same schemes day in and day out,” Fisch said. “So the key really is for us to just see who makes plays, really, right? Who makes plays when the opportunity presents itself?”
Rapid Reaction: Seahawks Fizzle After Fast Start, Fall 17-7 to Cowboys in Preseason Opener
Despite a fast start to kick off the exhibition season with an opening drive touchdown, the Seattle Seahawks whiffed on multiple fourth down opportunities and the offense went ice cold for the final three quarters of play as the Dallas Cowboys earned a 17-7 victory in the preseason opener.
Rotating snaps under center, Drew Lock completed nine out of 13 passes for 40 yards and tossed a five-yard touchdown to receiver Montorie Foster Jr., while Jalen Milroe rushed for 36 yards and added 36 yards as a passer. Seemingly playing with clones on the field, linebacker Tyrice Knight stuffed the stat sheet with a team-high 10 tackles and two pass breakups, starring in the middle with mostly backups playing on defense for Seattle, while edge rusher Jalan Gaines and safety AJ Finley produced the team’s only tackles for loss.
Here are five takeaways from the preseason opener at Lumen Field:
1. A methodical drive aided by a big penalty finishes with Lock’s arm giving the Seahawks a quick lead.
Playing with all backups on the offensive side of the ball, Lock didn’t waste much time going into aggressive mode from the pocket. After a short run by George Holani and a quick completion to Jake Bobo on the first two plays of the series, the Seahawks faced 3rd and 4 and the veteran backup uncorked a deep ball down the left sideline for veteran receiver Cody White, who got grabbed by cornerback Caelan Carson from behind as the pass sailed over his head. With his progress severely impeded to prevent a big play, he drew a 19-yard pass interference penalty to extend the opening possession.
Mariners' Bullpen Blows Another Lead as Houston Walks it Off in Extras
The Seattle Mariners came limping into Houston having won only one of their last six games. After digging themselves into a three-run deficit early, Dan Wilson’s squad came storming back in the eighth to send the opening game of a critical series to extra innings.
But despite taking a 7-5 lead in the 10th, the bad luck continued, as Houston orchestrated a back-breaking comeback of its own, further putting the AL West division out of reach as a three-run home run by Christian Walker vaulted the Astros to an 8-7 win.
It wasn’t all bad news, as the final result might suggest. Starter George Kirby pitched better than the box score might indicate, and the M’s offense seemingly woke up from a season-long slumber.
A top-30 prospect also made his debut for the team. Brock Rodden debuted at shortstop and looked like a major leaguer already, sparking questions about why he wasn’t brought up earlier given the recent controversy surrounding Colt Emerson’s secret wrist injury.
Unfortunately, the backend of the bullpen surprisingly fell apart with the bats waking up, blowing a two-run lead in the 10th and showing once again that another bullpen acquisition was needed at the trade deadline in what has become quite the missed opportunity for Jerry Dipoto.
Seattle continues to slip further and further from playoff contention, and its players will need to execute to get this squad back on track with time running out to crawl back into the race.
Devon Witherspoon Secures Bag as Seahawks Hand All-Pro Corner Record-Setting Extension
While the negotiation process may have taken a bit more time than either party would have preferred, the Seattle Seahawks will have Devon Witherspoon roaming their disruptive secondary for years to come.
As confirmed by a team source, the Seahawks have agreed to terms with Witherspoon on a four-year, $132 million contract, making the former top-five pick the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history. Under the terms of the deal, he will receive $101 million in guaranteed money and $33 million per year in new money, both records for the position.
Quickly living up to the billing as the No. 5 overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, Witherspoon jumped right into Seattle’s starting lineup as a rookie and earned a Pro Bowl nod while finishing fourth in Defensive Rookie of the Year balloting. Emerging as a rare disruptor for the cornerback spot with the ability to blow up run plays and excel as a blitzer, he racked up 79 tackles, three sacks, and eight tackles for loss while returning his lone interception 97 yards for a touchdown in a Monday Night Football win over the New York Giants.
Once again making the Pro Bowl in 2024, Witherspoon nearly hit the 100-tackle mark and though he only had one sack, he still generated consistent pressure on limited opportunities to rush the passer and added six tackles for loss. In coverage, he produced six pass breakups while allowing just 9.1 yards per reception, taking a steady step forward in that aspect of his game.
WATCH: Reign ‘Suffocate' Chicago, Grind Out 1-0 Win on Pride Night
SEATTLE, Wash. — The Seattle Reign managed their most dominant showing of the season on Friday night, compiling 3.3 expected goals thanks to a 24-5 shot disparity over the last-place Chicago Stars. But by full-time, Maddie Mercado’s 53rd-minute goal ended up being the decider in a 1-0 game that should have had every making of a blowout.
The result puts the Reign at 8-7-3, back into the playoff picture with 12 games left. Beyond helping their place in the table, it also marked a different kind of win for Seattle, which had scored multiple goals in its past five matches and had to defend leads by scoring more.
The younger Reign squad instead had to burn clock and keep possession on Friday night to ensure they earned a win on a night where they underperformed on the offensive end.
Emerald City Spectrum reporter Qasim Ali breaks down how the Reign looked so dominant despite the close scoreline.
Instant Takeaways: Storm Swept By Fire in Season Series
The Seattle Storm erased a double-digit first-half deficit but couldn’t roll it into a second straight victory in an 84-82 loss to the Portland Fire on Friday, Aug. 14, at Climate Pledge Arena.
Portland (14-20) was led by a season-high 20 points from Holly Winterburn off the bench, and the Fire also got 14 points each from starters Bridget Carleton, Megan DiLeo and Carla Leite.
Seattle (7-29) couldn’t roll its momentum from Monday’s win into another victory. Dominique Malonga had a rough shooting night, scoring nine points on 3-of-15 shooting. Awa Fam scored a team-high 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Storm.
Camp Takeaways: Locker Room, Connections Key in Seahawks Decision to Sign Terrion Arnold
With ongoing legal issues at play stemming from a February incident in Florida, including eight felony charges for robbery and kidnapping, the Seattle Seahawks don’t know when - or if - Terrion Arnold will be allowed to return to the field.
But one day after reports surfaced that Seattle planned to sign Arnold, moments after wrapping up a quick walkthrough heading into Saturday’s preseason opener against Dallas, coach Mike Macdonald confirmed that the team and player have a deal in place, acknowledging that a myriad of factors led to franchise being comfortable on taking a chance on the former first round pick out of Alabama.
“I think it was an opportunity to bring on a player that we felt strongly about during the draft process,” Macdonald said. “We also understand that it's a serious situation with a legal matter. There’s a process behind it so we respect that. That’s how we’ll operate too, just letting that process play out and let the league decide if and when his return to play is. We understand that that's at play but there's an opportunity to bring him in and give him an opportunity to earn a position here.”
As Macdonald indicated earlier in the week, the third-year coach has the utmost confidence in the culture that has been built in Seattle, while several people inside and outside of the building also vouched for Arnold as part of the process.
Among those, general manager John Schneider has great respect for former Alabama coach Nick Saban, who wrote a letter in support of Arnold to the judge in Tampa at the beginning of the player’s legal case. Defensive backs coach Karl Scott, who coached under Saban for three seasons, helped recruit Arnold to Tuscaloosa before departing to accept a position with the Minnesota Vikings, while quarterback Jalen Milroe maintains a close relationship with his soon-to-be current teammate from their time together with the Crimson Tide.
Sounders Notebook: de la Vega Out For Season, Seattle Prepares for Tough Vancouver Side
For eight glorious minutes last Sunday at Lumen Field, Seattle Sounders fans finally got to watch their star winger Pedro de la Vega work the ball around the pitch with ease and finesse. He instinctively floated to the back post late in a 3-0 Leagues Cup win over Querétaro and, at one point, nearly tapped in a rolling pass from Jesús Ferreira before flicking his right leg up to magically keep the chance alive and show some of his much-needed quality.
But in the 85th minute, on a routine challenge, the 25-year-old Argentinian making his season debut after suffering a fractured kneecap last October went down. He didn't look to be in too much pain as the trainers checked on him, but he immediately went to the locker room with a left quadriceps injury. After the game, striker Danny Musovski said he saw the typically joyous de la Vega crying.
We now know why.
After training on Friday, head coach Brian Schmetzer revealed de la Vega's quadriceps "pull" is serious enough to end his 2026 campaign.
"Pedro has a very… significant left quad pull," Schmetzer said. "He is, you know, probably out for the remainder of the year."
Schmetzer confirmed surgery is on the table, but no final decisions have been made on that front as de la Vega comes to terms with his sixth distinct injury in three years with Seattle.
Analysis: Seattle Torrent Will Have Scary First Line Entering Second Season
Even though the Seattle Torrent finished last in the PWHL standings last season as an expansion franchise, their top line next season could be the scariest in the league.
With the second overall pick, the Torrent added a world class goal-scorer in Abbey Murphy. On Seattle’s top line, Murphy will have solid linemates with USA teammate Alex Carpenter and Canadian Olympian Julia Gosling.
Abbey Murphy
Murphy was the consensus second-overall pick behind Caroline Harvey. She tallied 40 goals and 66 points in 33 games in her University of Minnesota fifth-year. She won gold with Team USA at Milan, and has represented her country internationally since 2021.
While her on-ice antics and embellishment sees her take lots of penalties, it also frustrates opponents. Even at 5-5, she’s still a physical player. Torrent general manager Meghan Turner likes her fit on a potential top line.
Analysis: Why Did Seahawks Roll Dice on CB Terrion Arnold Amid Legal Issues?
Mere moments after completing a competitive padded practice on August 10, Mike Macdonald knew questions would be coming his way on the Seattle Seahawks reported interest in embattled cornerback Terrion Arnold.
Before the reporter who first broached the topic could even finish asking about the former Lions first round pick, mistakingly calling Arnold “Terrion Austin” instead, Macdonald politely corrected him with a smile and quickly addressed the issue at hand. Just one day after the Seahawks brought him in for a visit, the coach confirmed the tryout, dishing out an answer that opened many eyes and indicated that the franchise had more than just cursory interest in the player.
“It’s enough right now,” Macdonald said. “We had him in for a great visit, a great tryout. It’s a situation where there’s other things surrounding it as well, we’re aware of that. We’re working through the situation right now. I enjoyed meeting him and he enjoyed being here, we’ll see how it goes.”
Only two days later, as reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Seahawks and Arnold have a deal in place with the third-year cornerback expected to sign and join his new team in coming days. Despite being recently charged with eight felonies stemming from an incident in Florida back in February, including four counts of kidnapping and four counts of robbery, as general manager John Schneider hinted on the second episode of Hard Knocks, the expectation within the building is that the former Alabama standout will be able to play in the preseason.
Amelia Severn Scores Four Goals, Matches Gonzaga Bulldogs Women's Soccer Record in 5-1 Win
There was plenty of optimism for Amelia Severn’s junior year, but no one could have predicted how she would start her 2026 season.
Coming off a First-Team All-WCC campaign where Severn tallied 10 goals and five assists, she introduced herself to the revamped Pac-12 in grand fashion Wednesday night at Luger Field, scoring four goals in Gonzaga women’s soccer season opener. She even mixed in an assist, as she was involved in all of GU’s goals during a 5-1 victory over South Florida. In the first year of a new conference, a feeling-out process is evident for players and coaches. But even as the teams compete outside of the Pac-12, Severn certainly put the league on notice, just one game into the new season.
The compelling part of Severn’s performance is deciding which element was more impressive: her scoring all four of her goals within the match’s first 40 minutes or the fact that each was sequenced differently. Regardless of how Severn’s absurd ‘haul’ unfolded, she matched a Gonzaga record for most goals in a single game, set by the program’s all-time leading scorer, Sara Streufert (44). Severn’s magical night marked the first time a Zag had notched a four-goal game since Streufert in 1998. She has also scored the eighth-most goals in school history, now totaling 18 in her career.
“We Know Where We Are At”: Lone M’s Win in Bronx Shows Blueprint Despite Not Being Enough by Itself
Over the past seven games, the Mariners have found themselves outscored 34-11. It was 34-10 going into Thursday’s afternoon contest in the Bronx; the team rode a stellar six-inning, seven-punchout, no-run start from Logan Gilbert to break an ugly six-game losing streak. The spell, starting in Seattle against the Tigers, had seen them finally stop treading water - because they had sunk like a stone. Were it not for some unexpected production on Wednesday (ultimately in vain as the pitching gave up 10 runs that day), the team’s scoring would have been better described not in runs per game but games per run, Anthony Bennett style.
When things go this pear-shaped for a baseball team, a lot of fingers get pointed and plenty of blame gets cast. The Mariners are 57-65, having barely avoided two straight sweeps to the two top teams in the AL; there’s certainly have plenty of blame to go around. No one is hitting, the team’s hurlers aren’t putting up quality starts, and even when they have a lead, their bullpen blows up and another ugly L goes up on the calendar. Perhaps the finger can go at skipper Dan Wilson, or president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, or the hitting crew of Edgar Martinez and Kevin Seitzer, or to strength and conditioning, or a player development side that can’t seem to turn good players into great ones, or an analytics department that seems to follow more than it leads, or owner John Stanton. Or maybe everybody, or maybe nobody.
The players blame people far more familiar: themselves. For a team that constantly talks about the importance of belief, the bluntness of their self-doubt is a bullhorn.
“It starts with me. I’m awful,” Cal Raleigh noted after their Tuesday 4-1 loss to open the series in New York. Over the course of the 2026 season, Raleigh has a .159/.267/.297 slash line, good for a worse batting average and OPS+ than all but one of Dave Valle’s Mariners seasons. Raleigh hadn’t been scheduled to speak to media that day, he simply held an impromptu presser where he called himself horrid in every possible way. Can you blame him for feeling like that?
Winning 1-0 on a Thursday Weston Wilson homer won’t meaningfully change things by itself; the M’s have seen too many would-be turnarounds go belly-up to believe that one win means the job is finished. That was true when they were a pair of games over .500, that was true when they were a pair of games under. 500, and it’s still true now that they’re seven games underwater.
Analysis: What Must Happen for the Huskies to Reach the College Football Playoff?
A week into Fall Camp, expectations are high among the Washington Huskies coaches and players.
People outside of Montlake are also buying into the team Jedd Fisch has assembled going into this third year as the head football coach. A year after finishing 9-4, the Huskies debuted 19th in the Coaches Poll. Phil Steele lists Washington 15th in his annual College Football Preview. Stewart Mandel of The Athletic placed Washington 15th, while On3’s Brett McMurphy tabbed UW 10th.
While most of those rankings suggest the Huskies will fall just outside the 12-team 2026 College Football Playoff field, it also puts them in range for Fisch’s first CFP as a head coach.
Rotated Sounders Fall to Chivas, Brian Schmetzer Motivated By Team Effort in Defeat
It was expected that iconic Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara would bring in plenty of fans to rival that of the host Seattle Sounders in Wednesday's Leagues Cup Phase One finale.
You can say they did that, as the stands were chock-full of fans donning the classic red and white stripes, chanting "CHIIIIIVAS" as the Liga MX giant downed Seattle 2-1.
The result left both teams at 1-2 in the tournament, ending their respective runs in the competition, which Seattle won for the first time in 2025. But the Sounders, now losers of eight of their last nine games, had already prioritized a busy upcoming MLS stretch by rotating heavily against Chivas — head coach Brian Schmetzer started four Tacoma Defiance call-ups in the game and changed to an unusual 3-4-3 formation for this one.
Schmetzer knew his team would need a win of Biblical proportions plus outside help to advance, and instead rested key pieces like Albert Rusnak, Jackson Ragen and Nouhou for a Sunday bout with Western Conference-leading Vancouver.
Watching a team full of younger guys hang around with a quality opponent, however, made the longtime Seattle skipper emotional postgame.
"That's what it means to wear the jersey," Schmetzer said of his team's effort. "The way those guys fought was the best thing about this evening. Yeah, we didn't win, I get it."
Club legend and goalkeeper Stefan Frei, on duty for this tournament in place of MLS starter Andrew Thomas, saw Wednesday as a chance to keep crawling out of this team-wide slump.
"We're trying to find positives right now," Frei said. "Even though the tournament (was) essentially gone, we're trying to create something today that we can build upon for the weekend when we play Vancouver."
Vandals Electric Start Spoils New-Look Cougars Season Opener
102 seconds. That’s all it took for Washington State women’s head soccer coach Chris Citowicki to get his first taste of adversity as stared down a 1-0 deficit to start the season.
Outmatched from the start by the rival Idaho Vandals, senior goalkeeper Ashlyn Dvorak misplayed a cross less than two minutes into action, which led to a tap in goal from Calli Chiarelli.
The dry summer heat beamed down on a Wazzu side that had eight transfer starters following their new coach from Montana. But Citowicki’s debut continued to go south as Idaho’s Alyssa Hamilton sent in a long looping ball from outside that found her teammate Hallie Prinos-Grumbach for a top left header goal, and just like that, the rout was on.
Wazzu needed to stop the bleeding, but the Vandals struck again at the 9:41 mark. From almost midfield, Prinos-Grumbach sent in a sky ball that evaded all Cougar defenders and found her teammate Hamilton for the header goal, returning the favor after the earlier assist.
Derick Hall Rising Star for Seahawks Thanks to Screen Time on Hard Knocks
If Derick Hall wasn’t on the map for football fans before February, he certainly is now. He arrived in Seattle as a second round pick in 2023 to fairly little fanfare. That was the same draft where the Seahawks had two first round picks and used them to create what is now a Super Bowl-winning core of Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Hall was their next pick, early in the second round.
Once he got to the team, he was not on the same level as players like Boye Mafe, Darrell Taylor, Uchenna Nwosu, and Dre’Mont Jones. He was well down the depth chart to start his NFL career. After a quiet rookie season in 2023, the final season for former coach Pete Carroll, he seemed to click more in Mike Macdonald’s system the next year. He ranked second on the team with eight sacks and 20 quarterback hits. It looked like he was an ascending player.
During the 2025 regular season, however, Hall once again was rather quiet, with just two sacks to his name. Then, the playoffs started. In Seattle’s dominant 29-13 win in Super Bowl LX over the Patriots, few players had a better case to be named the game’s MVP than Hall. His pair of sacks and two tackles for loss were just the tip of the iceberg of just how dominant he was in that game. He included four quarterback pressures and a forced fumble on his resume that night.
‘It’s Me Versus Me': Versatile Weapon Velus Jones Jr. Aims to Force Way Onto Seahawks Roster
On his way to the first All-Pro selection of his NFL career, few found success matched up against Ernest Jones manning the middle in coverage for the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.
Tying for the league lead among linebackers with five regular season interceptions and adding a sixth one in the playoffs, Jones excelled taking away many of the best pass catching running backs and linebackers in the NFL in 2025. But during the dog days of training camp, one player has occasionally proven to be his Kryptonite, and he bears the same namesake, albeit with no relation.
Drawing the assignment of manning up on versatile playmaker Velus Jones Jr. in Tuesday’s 15th camp practice, Jones initially had him covered, sticking to his hip pocket as backup quarterback Drew Lock progressed through his initial read to the right side. But in this case, the do-it-all linebacker wasn’t able to “Keep up with the Joneses,” as the speedy back made a hesitation move faking an inside break before darting back outside, quickly gaining a couple steps of separation on a wheel route.
Even with pressure bearing down on him, Lock showcased his elite arm talent with the flick of a wrist, launching a perfect back-shoulder throw off his back foot to connect on a 20-yard touchdown with Jones, who entered camp listed as a receiver on Seattle’s roster before being slid back to running back after the release of Kenny McIntosh. On that grab, he certainly looked every bit like the converted receiver he is reeling in the pass with soft hands and outstanding body control, proving once again he’s up for the challenge making plays from anywhere.
“It's me versus me. My goal is to be better than yesterday, and so that's the mentality I attack everything with,” Jones said of juggling multiple positions prior to Monday’s practice. “And so anywhere they need me, I'll be pretty versatile. Just enjoying each and every day, trying to push myself to get better and better.”
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