What is the story about?
Good
morning friends and happy Friday!
The Mariners kick off a weekend series in Kansas City this afternoon, with Logan Gilbert trying to right the ship against the 20-30 Royals.
As we prepare to enter the holiday weekend with lovely weather on the horizon for those of you in the Seattle area, what plans do you have? Are you going on a trip? Hanging out with friends and/or family locally? Or maybe hunkering down and soaking in Mariners baseball?
In Mariners news…
- Between injuries and underperformance, several Mariners players have been pushed beyond their comfort zones for the sake of the team, writes Daniel Kramer.
- The Lookout Landing staff got together for a round-table discussion about the Mariners’ weird six-man/piggyback rotation plan.
- Zach Mason likened players on the Mariners roster to things in his apartment as a way to express his feelings about the team in the first quarter of the season.
Around the league…
- In a major scoop, Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic reported that the Angels and Rays agreed to a trade during the 2023 deadline that would have sent Shohei Ohtani to Tampa — but Angels owner Arte Moreno shut it down (only for Ohtani to leave a few months later anyway). The Mariners should be thanking their lucky stars this deal never came to fruition. ($)
- The new Las Vegas stadium for the Athletics is reportedly on schedule for a 2028 opening.
- The Pirates are promoting outfield prospect Esmerlyn Valdez to make his major league debut.
- Don’t look now, but the Washington Nationals are off to their best start to the season since 2018.
- Nats infielder Paul DeJong will miss the rest of the season after undergoing hamstring surgery.
- A’s outfielder Denzel Clarke is out until the All-Star break with his own hamstring ailment.
- Has Sandy Alcantara successfully revitalized his career? Michael Baumann at Fangraphs gave his verdict.
- Fastballs are faster than ever before. Louisa Thomas at The New Yorker wonders what this extreme level of strain does to the human arm.
- Paul Sullivan at The Chicago Tribune pointed out that as a player, it’s impossible to win once you start talking back to chirping fans.
- Patrick Dubuque at Baseball Prospectus wrote about how difficult it is to determine a manager’s worth, and how strange it is that teams and fans act otherwise. ($)
- Did you know that you can bring outside food into the stadium? Tayla Minsberg at The New York Times spoke to fans about their favorite meals and snacks to bring to the park.
Anders’ pick…
- A group of students at the University of Washington have resurrected a portion of the Seattle cityscape that was lost when I-5 carved through it in the 1960s.
- Kyle Busch, one of the greatest drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, died suddenly yesterday from an unexplained illness at the age of 41. Busch drove in two races this past weekend, winning on May 15 and noting in seeming premonition that “you never know when the last one is.”
