Mariners Pitching

The Mariners made the playoffs this

last season though they had injuries

to their starting staff. Three of the 

starters were out some time and

Bryan Woo became injured just 

before the playoffs. 

Woo didn't play in the series against 

the Tigers and went to the bullpen 

against the Blue Jays in the American 

League Championship series. Had Woo 

been able to start the Mariners may

have been in the World Series. 

Bryce Miller who had an off season 

after being injured and having to go 

on the.injured list may have been the Mariners  best pitcher down the stretch. 

George Kirby started the season on the 

injured list and along with Logan Gilbert

who was out to for several starts were

both inconsistent. You could say the 

same for Luis Castillo who was healthy 

all season. 

We hope for a rebound for all the starters.

Emerson Hancock who now was sent to

the bullpen in September and Logan Evans 

were saviors to some point when Kirby, 

Gilbert and Miller were on injured list.

Evans could be the one looking in.

Castillo being older could be one that

lands on the injured list.. Does this mean

the Mariners trade him before next season.

When it comes to the bullpen  Andre Munoz 

is the closer with Matt Brash his setup man

in the 8th inning. Gabe Speier was the high leverage left handed reliever. The Mariners acquired  Caleb Ferguson at the trading deadline. He was sort off and on.  He usually came in the sixth inning depending how the game was going to face lefties. He is going 

to be a free agent and likely going elsewhere.

Trent Thornton started the season season 

as the long reliever along with coming in the seventh inning until he was injured and out 

for the last season. He wasn't pitching well either. Again very inconsistent. Eduardo Bazardo and Carlos Vargas started the season as the seventh and eighth relievers however the lack of success from Thornton and two others they moved ahead. In fact by September they both had moved to the fifth  and sixth relievers.  At times Bazardo was

used in high leverage situations depending how deep the starters were going.

In September and into the playoffs Emerson Hancock and Luke Jackson were the 7th and 8th relievers. Jackson will be a free agent so he might be gone as well. Not sure about Trent Thornton of his status going into

2026. The Mariners were hoping that Gregory 

Santos would share the duties as a high

leverage reliever with Munoz and Brash 

however again he missed most of 2025.

I am sure he will be invited to trading camp

but he will have to earn his way.

Since the Mariners will have two spots

open in the bullpen adding a high leverage 

to the group and another lefty to replace

Ferguson. Let's see how the pitching 

looks going into training camp. Go M's!

The Gonzaga Bulldogs

Gonzaga has a good turnover on

their men's basketball team however

the media for WCC conference have 

them winning again in 2025-26

This will be there last season as they

join the new Pac-12 conference next

season. 

Graham Ike returns at power forward

as does Braden Huff at center. Huff has 

spent most of his career at Gonzaga as

a spart plug coming off the bench

however made a difference late in the

season and March Madness as a starter.

Braeden Smith transferred  last season 

however redshirted so he will be

starting at point guard. He previously played at Colgate however he is from Seattle.

Adam Miller transferring from Arizona State

will start at shooting guard. He averaged 

9.8 points a game last season. He is a veteran playing four years.

Tyon Grant-Foster will start at small forward.

Last two years played at Grand Canyon College. He was just granted another year

of eligibility. 

Jalen Warley a transfer from Florida State

may be the backup at point and shooting 

guard. Steele Venters who missed the

last two years after transferring from Eastern 

Washington is expected to be the backup 

at small forward.  Could see Warley playing too.

It should be another exciting season to

watch Zags basketball. Improvement 

from the Huskies and Cougars will make

a good threesome something the state

of Washington deserves with good high

school basketball for many years.

Gonzaga's  non-league schedule begins

this coming Monday against Texas Southern.

They have 23 non-league games with

some strong opponents. I wish the Huskies 

and Cougars would do the same to be

ready for conference play.

In December they begin with Kentucky 

and will play against UCLA and Oregon 

as well. The Ducks will be their last one

before starting WCC play.  Go Zags!

Preview Washington State at Oregon State

This coming Saturday at 4:30 pm

the two teams left of the Pac-12 

clash together. It will be the first

of two games between them. 

Very unusual for two teams to play

each other in the regular season.

Next year the Pac-12 will have

eight teams.

The Cougars do have four non-league 

games.  They play the Apple Cup at

Husky Stadium in September and they

go against former Pac-12 opponent

Arizona as well.

Cougars are 4-4 go into this game while

the Beavers are 1-7 after a win in their 

last game.  Both teams have won their

last games.  This is a rival as much as

the Apple Cup for the Cougars. The

Cougars are 2.5 favorites going into

Corvallis. The two teams have had

different seasons.

The Beavers and the Cougars have a close

record in their 79 games they have played

over the years.  The Beavers lead 41-38.

The Beavers have won 8 out of the last

10 games so the Cougars will want to win

badly.

The Beavers are averaging 21.1 points a

game this season while the defense is

giving up 32.8 points. 

Malik Murphy a junior who transferred 

from Duke is the Beavers starting quarterback. He completed only 58.6%

of his passes for 215.3 yards per game.

He has thrown only nine touchdowns

in eight games while having eight 

interceptions. If the Cougars defense 

can intercept a pass or more could 

help them win.

Anthony Hankerson is the Beavers 

primary running back. The senior is

averaging 83.9 yards per game and

has six touchdowns. Backup is redshirt 

freshman Cornell Hatcher Jr.  has only

38 carries averaging 6.3 yards per carry

and has two touchdowns..

Senior wide receiver Trent Walker leads 

with 48 catches for 608 yards however 

doesn't have any touchdown. Sophomore 

David Wells Jr. Is second with 27 receptions 

for 293 yards however has three touchdowns.

Third receiver is sophomore Taz Reddicks 

has 26 catches for 342 yards but no

touchdowns. Tight end senior Bryce Caufield

is next with 18 catches with one touchdown.

A cross state rivalries anything can happen.

The Cougars playing well maybe in going

away. Go Cougs!

Preview Seahawks at Commanders

The Seahawks after winning on Monday

Night football had a bye week. On Sunday

they will play the Commanders in Washington DC on Sunday night football on November 2.

The Seahawks and the Rams are tied for first

place in the NFC West with 5-2 record.

The Rams had a bye as well. The 49ers

lost Sunday to the Houston Texans 26-15

on the road. Arizona Cardinals are still in

last place and had a bye as well. 

A Look At Mariners

The Seattle Mariners went further than 

most of us thought they would although

we were hoping for. Just one swing 

cost them to play the Dodgers in the 

World Series.

Now we will see what they will do to

improve the team for next season.

There isn't a lot they have to do. The 

experience will help out quite a bit

in the ALCS.

Our catcher Cal Raleigh after signing

a new contract for six years had the

best season a catcher has ever had

offensively. He used Bab Ruth with

60 home runs and shattered the most 

ever for a catcher.  Next season we can't 

expect the same thing however with Cal

you never know.

As far as the offense goes I hope we see

more doubles. In September the Mariners 

did quite well in doubles being led by

Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor. These

are two we hope will be back next season.

The Mariners do need a first baseman 

so Naylor fits the bill. Polanco would be

the regular dh and play second against

some tough lefties to give Cole Young 

a day off. This would allow Cal to dh

and Harry Ford to catch.  

Ford though he didn't get in a lot of

action in September he did show he

isn't afraid to hit early in the count.

Something they could use more of.

This comes down to how the starting

pitcher is doing early in the game and

against the bullpen a good idea to.

Having Polanco back he could play

first base on occasion as well giving

Naylor a day off. Polanco biggest 

issue is staying healthy.

Leo Rivas I could see as the primary 

player coming off the bench though

playing second would be his likely 

position. Most likely JP Crawford 

will be the shortstop though Cole

Emerson is rising in the ranks and

could be on the ball club before

the end of the season.  If Crawford 

needed a day off shift Young over

with Rivas at second. 

Third base is a spot up in the air.

Can the Mariners afford Eugenio

Suarez as well as Naylor. Would it

be better to have Williamson back

at third. One thing we know is that

Williamson can play defense and

Suarez isn't getting any younger. 

In the outfield it looks to be Randy

Arozarena in left though September 

and October he didn't hit very well.

Julio who did well both September 

and October will be in center. 

Right field could be rotation of

Dominic Canzone and Victor Robles.

This will depend how Robles bounces

back after missing most of the season.

Besides Rivas as a utility player the 

Mariners will have another one. Do

they stay in house with Mastrobuino 

or go out and get one. If they sign

Suarez will Williamson be the extra

man. We will see. Also will Luke Raley 

return after a poor season. Stay tuned.

Next time on the Mariners we will look

at the pitching. What changes have to

be made it just a few tweaks. Go M's 

Both Huskies and Cougars Win

The Huskies and Cougars both were

favored in close margins however they 

won by good margins.

The Huskies scored two touchdowns

in their first two possessions of the

game in the first quarter. Freshman 

Dezman Roebuck had the two tds

going for 13 yards. He had only one

other catch in the game.

Illinois countered with a field goal 

in their first possession of the game.

The Illini had  the second quarter for

the most part scoring two touchdowns.

At that point it was a tough match.

The Huskies did have a questionable 

pass interference call on what looked

like an interception that was turned

over. A couple other interference calls

went against them.   In the second half

a non interference call didn't go in their

way either.

The Huskies though went into their bag

of tricks where wide receiver Denzel

Boston threw a touchdown pass to

running back Jonah Coleman who was

wide open in the end zone to have

the Huskies lead 21-17 at halftime.

The Huskies led the rest of the way.

In the third quarter Jonah Coleman

had a rushing touchdown for seven

yards and the only score of that period 

In the 4th quarter Denzel Boston who

had ten catches on the day had his

only touchdown to make it 35-17.

The Illini had another touchdown 

and two point conversation to make

the game a ten point difference. 

At about just over eight minutes 

remaining tight end Decker DeGraaf

had a two yard catch and that road

it all. Final Washington 42 Illinois 25.

The Huskies now have a 6-2 record.

They will go to a bowl game now is

which one.

The Huskies have a bye week before

going to Wisconsin. Go Dawgs!

The game between Washington State 

and Toledo in Pullman wasn't as close

as was forecasted.  The Cougars 

struggled in the first quarter however 

had three touchdowns in the second

quarter.  

Quarterback Zevi Eckhaus scrambled 

seven yards for the first touchdown

at the 12 minute mark of the second

quarter. He threw two touchdowns

in the last four minutes of the half.

Toledo had their only touchdown 

and score of the game just about the

time ran out in the first half 

No other scoring happened until

2:21 was left in the game. Cougars

running back Kirby Vorhees went in

for six yards. He had 15 carries for

64 yards. Quarterback Eckhaus has

15 carries as well and led with 74

yards.

Toledo's quarterback Tucker Gleason 

actually three more passes and yard than

Eckhaus. He had one interception while

Eckhaus had two. Toledo though didn't 

really babe a running game 

The Cougars will play Oregon State 

next Saturday in Corvallis after having

a bye week this week. It has been a

tough season for Oregon State as they

won their first game of the season at

home against Lafayette 45-13. Before

the game that week they fired their

head coach.  Both teams will face

each other again to end the regular 

season in Pullman.  Go Cougs!

Look at WSU Cougars Men's Basketball Team

All three of the top men's basketball teams

in Washington State had major changes 

to their teams. Gonzaga lost players 

mainly through graduation so we will look

at them coming up in a future post . The Huskies and Cougars had a lot of transfers through the portal. As indicted the Huskies did well in the portal and may have a better team because of it. 

The Cougars look like they have to rebuild as they have only three under returnees and

the rest of the roster is pretty young especially at the guard position.

Tomas Thrastarson is one of the three

returnees and plays at guard. He was 

able to get in some playing time last 

year at guard. He is an international 

player from Iceland. He started 11 games

and played in 31 games averaging 20.7

minutes a game. He made the WCC all

freshman team. He averages 4.5 points a

a game. This coming season the Cougars

will need him to score at least twice that

to have any success.

The other two returners are both forwards.

They should see good action as well.

Rihards Vavers a Junior has had trouble 

staying healthy for the Cougars. Recently 

he says that he is feeling fine. Rihards played 

13 games last year averaging 13.9 minutes 

a game. Staying healthy we could see him

play over 20 minutes a game. He averaged

5.6 points a game. Being healthy and playing

more minutes he could score in double figures.

ND Okafor a transfer last year from California

played in all 32 games coming off the bench.

He averages 13.8 minutes scoring 5.6 points

and 2.7 rebounds. We hope with a year under

his belt with the Cougars he will see more

action. The Cougars seem they need him to

with the lack of experience. 

The primary transfer was Jerone Morton who

played last year as a sophomore at Morehead

State. He started 20 of 25 games he played

for them. Jerone averaged 10.7 points a

game. It will be important that he scores

in double digits for the Cougars this coming

season. 

It is hard to know what  the starting lineup

is though those four players will need to play.

The depth chart hasn't come out as of yet 

Looking at their 14 player roster at this time.

There  is no center shown on the roster

so likely go with two forwards and three guards. Despite the lack of experience 

the Cougars are favored to finish sixth

in the West Coast Conference. This will

be their last season as they will go into

the new Pac-12 next year. Gonzaga 

actually be joining them.

The Cougars have ten nonconference 

Games beginning on November 3 against

Idaho.  We will let you know how it goes

and what the lineup looks like. We get additional news beforehand let you know 

too. Go Cougs.

We will let you know where former Cougars 

from last year land who are still in college.