Seattle’s LGBTQ community members say they hope that this Friday’s World Cup “Pride Match” between Egypt and Iran, two countries where homosexuality is criminalized, can be an opportunity to change minds.
Seattle, WA
Seattle Mariners should target 2 types of hitters at trade deadline
Every sport has something that sets it apart from the others. The weekly buildup to the big event atmosphere of the NFL, the pageantry and tradition of college football, the code of the NHL or the gentility of golf. Baseball has nightly tension, near-constant failure, and the marathon season that leads to more ups and downs than a ride at Six Flags.
Those last two attributes of baseball have been exaggerated in recent years.
We’ve always known that a hitter who fails 70% of the time might be a Hall of Famer, but now there are a total of just 11 players in the entire league batting over .300. Offense is down according to nearly every available metric and it seems like the ball is hardly ever even put in play.
And those ups and downs? Every team has them. The Yankees dominated the first two-plus months before a 6-16 stretch, and the Astros essentially did the exact opposite. But it seems now like the predictability of player success has gone haywire as well.
How much longer does Mariners’ Jorge Polanco have to turn round?
Last year’s National League Rookie of the Year, Arizona’s Corbin Carroll, has seen his OPS drop from .868 to .613. The Braves’ Michael Harris II fell from .808 to .653. Toronto’s Bo Bichette has gone from .814 to .598. We’ve seen drop-offs before especially as players hit a wall in their 30s, but Carroll and Harris are 23, and Bichette is 26. And I’m quite sure I don’t need to tell you that Julio Rodríguez has fallen from .818 to .658 in his age 23 season, as well.
Meanwhile there are some on the other side of the equation. Journeyman Brent Rooker has a .902 OPS (nearly .100 points above his career norm) at the age of 29 for Oakland. Part time utilityman Willi Castro stepped into the second base spot in Minnesota after Edouard Julien was sent to the minors (his OPS had dropped from .839 as a rookie to .676) and at .794 now is close to 100 points above his career expectation. Or the story of former top prospect Jurickson Profar, who has surpassed a .700 OPS in just four of his 11 seasons. Now with the Padres, he’s an All-Star for the first time with a .896 OPS and is one of those elite few hitting over .300. Of course he is…
There has always been and will always be variance in what we can expect from players. But the massive swings and craters are starting to feel inevitable while general managers just try to predict when they might occur.
Tough gig.
Now we are approaching one of baseball’s other great, unique differentiators: the trade deadline. I love the deadline. I love a moment two-thirds of the way through the season that asks each GM to make a decision on whether their team is in or out. Should they fold and play for another year, or raise the stakes by risking valuable pieces of their future?
The Mariners need to raise. They have the pocket aces (sorry) with their elite pitching and need to get rid of whatever detritus compares to their offense. They need bats. Probably two of them. But there isn’t much available (yet), and buyers are going to outnumber sellers by a lot.
We know they need to upgrade through the trade market, but in which direction should they proceed? Do you want one of the struggling stars with big names, big upside and lousy production this season? Or one of the no-name veterans that have been tearing up the league?
Easy answer for me: yes!
I want both. I would love for them to try one from each bucket.
How about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. from Toronto and on-base machine LaMonte Wade Jr. of the Giants? Or combine Bichette with Rooker? Both scenarios offer a power threat plus someone with more athleticism. Both net you a young star with upside plus an older vet who is just plain producing right now.
Can you imagine adding a .446 on base percentage (Wade) to the top of this lineup, plus sticking Vlad between Julio and Raleigh? That drops J.P., Garver, Raley and others into the more complementary roles that better suit them. How nice would it look with Rooker’s 18 home runs and 15 doubles, and Bichette up the middle for the next few seasons?
Could Seattle Mariners lure a star away from Blue Jays in trade?
Those upgrades should raise this offense to at least an acceptable level. And the Mariners clearly have the farm system to support those types of deals.
Could this be a reality? Yes, in theory. But the reality is so much tougher and it has very little to do with the Mariners, their willingness to add, or the quality of their prospects. Three of those players simply might not be available. The Blue Jays have life (thanks to their series win in Seattle over the weekend), and so far haven’t put their shiny pieces on the market. The Giants are just a few games out of a wild card spot (despite a record of 44-47) and want to win now. Teams may be forced to overpay for the scraps of the Marlins, A’s, White Sox, Rockies and a few others who will sell.
But a lot can happen in the next few weeks. A hot or cold stretch could significantly change the calculus for any number of bubble teams, and that will affect the trade market accordingly. But the Mariners need two bats. I’d love to see them find someone with the reputation and history to make opposing pitchers take notice, and another who is just getting it done this year.
That seems like as good a recipe as any other to cut through the craziness of this baseball season.
Seattle Mariners and the trade deadline
• Insider: Deep, young farm system gives Mariners ammo for deadline
• Reading between lines of two Mariners prospect moves
• Seattle Mariners Trade Target: A hot-hitting infielder from Reds
• Which prospect is Seattle Mariners’ best trade chip? MLB insider explains
• Passan: With prospect wealth, Seattle Mariners should be bold in trade
SEATTLE — Seattle police are investigating a shooting that left a 17-year-old boy injured early Thursday morning in the High Point neighborhood.
At about 12:48 a.m., dispatchers received multiple reports of rapid gunfire near Sylvan Way Southwest and Southwest Morgan Street.
Officers arrived and found a 17-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound to the hip area. Medics transported the teen to Harborview Medical Center in serious but stable condition.
Before officers located the victim, they found a car that had crashed and become disabled near Sylvan Way Southwest and Delridge Way Southwest. Police said multiple suspects were seen running from the vehicle through a nearby Home Depot parking lot.
Officers cordoned off the area and searched for the suspects with assistance from the K-9 Unit, but were unable to locate them. Police recovered the vehicle and impounded it for processing.
During the incident, gunfire struck at least three vehicles and two buildings. No other injuries were reported.
Officers processed multiple nearby scenes and recovered evidence before clearing the area. Detectives with the Gun Violence Reduction Unit will lead the investigation.
Seattle, WA
Council eyes street barricades in fight against violence, sex trafficking in north Seattle
SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council is expected to vote next week on a plan that would give the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) the authority to close off street access for public safety reasons.
The proposal comes after months of outcry from residents in north Seattle who say sex traffickers and sex buyers are looping through the streets surrounding Aurora Avenue North.
The street-closure proposal passed the council’s Public Safety Committee on Tuesday and is expected to be voted on by the full council next week.
“I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say the crime has gotten much worse, much more violent, and much more predator,” said District 5 councilmember Debora Juarez. “I think that we do have the authority to shut down a street for bullets flying and endangering the lives of those who live there.”
Frustrated neighbors have installed their own homemade barricades after a spate of gun violence between sex traffickers in May.
RELATED | SDOT removes street barricades near Aurora Ave; neighbors doubtful of temporary measures
Councilmember Bob Kettle says street closures will help tamp down sex buying in certain areas, but he emphasizes it must be accompanied by an increase in outreach and enforcement.
“We have to have a sustained effort,” Kettle told KOMO News. “My concern is for every action, there’s a reaction. We need to take this flex and then really attack it … because if we do just a bit and our attention wanders, we could have this conversation three months from now and we’re talking about the same thing.”
A 15-year-old boy was shot near 95th Street and Aurora Avenue North around 10:45 p.m. last night. The teen initially claimed he had been shot while walking down the street, but investigators now say he was shot by a passenger in his car.
RELATED | Seattle police say ‘drive-by’ on Aurora Ave. was actually passenger shooting teen driver
Kettle credited the city’s Real Time Crime Center cameras with helping investigators quickly piece together the events of the shooting.
“Just as important to finding out what happened, the cameras help police determine what did not happen,” Kettle said.
According to Seattle police data, reports of shootings and shots fired in the north precinct area are at their lowest levels since 2021.
Through the end of May, there were 48 total reports of shootings or shots fired, with one fatal shooting and seven nonfatal injury shootings.
That’s down from 63 total reports of shootings and shots fired – one fatal and seven injuries – in 2025; and 64 shootings or shots fired reports – one fatal and 17 injuries – in 2024.
At Tuesday’s committee meeting, councilmembers pointed out residents are calling for a new police precinct to be built on Aurora Avenue.
Ten years ago, a new North Precinct building was slated to be built at 130th Avenue and Aurora Avenue North to replace the existing precinct building, which was decades old and did not have enough space for the department’s needs.
Led by former councilmember Kshama Sawant, the “Block the Bunker” movement successfully got the North Precinct replacement project killed in city council.
Kettle said the city’s current financial issues make it essentially impossible to bring back a project similar to the one the previous council defeated.
“We have to connect the dots back,” Kettle said. “If we want to know why we are where we are today, we have to look at decisions made over the last two councils.”
Seattle, WA
Iran and Egypt to play in Seattle ‘Pride Match’ despite earlier complaints | The Jerusalem Post
Seattle revels in its reputation as a welcoming place and Pride flags are visible all over the city, all year round. Its June Pride weekend is one of the biggest in the United States.
So, ahead of December’s World Cup draw, it was only natural that local organizers designated the June 26 match to be held in the city as a “Pride Match.”
Then the draw happened — and the two teams scheduled to play the game were Egypt and Iran.
Egypt’s Football Association urged global soccer governing body FIFA to prevent any Pride-related activities, arguing such events clashed with the Muslim-majority country’s cultural and religious values. The governing body in Iran, where same-sex relations can carry the death penalty, filed an objection with FIFA.
Some in Seattle have doubts over the teams in the ‘Pride Match’
But in Seattle, there is no question that the Pride Match will go ahead as planned.
“The World Cup is going to come and go in three weeks,” Hedda McLendon, from Seattle’s local World Cup organizing committee, told Reuters. “The Pride celebration … has happened on this weekend for 50-plus years.
“It is going to happen this weekend, it is going to happen long after the World Cup.”
Some in the city’s LGBTQ community had mixed feelings given the participants, said Jon Cairns, 49, manager of local LGBTQ+ club Kremwerk.
Cairns, however, said his own view was that it provided a platform to promote acceptance that only the world’s biggest sporting event could offer.
“My reaction is let’s have them,” he told Reuters. “International sports is one of the biggest brokers historically of social change and individual rights and freedoms worldwide, including in the U.S.”
He cited black U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens’ four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany and Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ raised-fist protest in 1968 as moments where “only international sports could reach that big of an audience.”
“They’re not going to turn off the World Cup on state television in Iran or Egypt to block out a Pride flag in the audience,” Cairns said.
The Pride Match is “a host city initiative” and separate of FIFA, a spokesperson for soccer’s governing body told Reuters.
Seattle’s LGBTQ community sees an opportunity
Egypt and Iran’s involvement in the Pride Match is not the first time the World Cup has grappled with stark differences in attitudes between hosts and visitors.
In 2022 World Cup host Qatar, the emir said visitors should “respect our culture” when asked about gay people attending the tournament.
FIFA threatened yellow cards for captains wearing the “OneLove” armband, citing its rules against political slogans. Teams including England and the Netherlands that had been planning to wear the armbands to protest Qatar’s laws against same-sex relationships abandoned the plan.
For Ryan Webster, a 40-year-old lifestyle manager who was at Kremwerk the weekend before Pride, Seattle’s “Pride Match” was an opportunity to show solidarity with people in countries where their sexuality was outlawed.
“I’m choosing to believe that this is our moment to allow the members of the LGBTQ community that come from those countries to have the opportunity to celebrate themselves in totality that they might not have otherwise,” he said outside the club, which will host a watch party for Friday’s game.
Inside, ‘Venus Fengz’ lip-synced to Cher’s “Believe” before introducing fellow drag performers to the stage, clapped and cheered by a raucous crowd.
Fengz, who only wanted to provide their stage name, said Pride coinciding with the World Cup would bring increased visibility, anticipating perhaps some new audience members.
“I think it’s always great for us to be able to share space and share places with people who don’t have the same experiences as us,” they told Reuters.
“Sometimes you just have to be the bigger person and show grace where you can and know that everyone is a human learning (from) different experiences, but also it can get hard — because you’re on the shorter end of the stick, always trying to have to explain yourself around people who don’t grow up with the same worldview.”
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