Seattle, WA
Seattle Mariners Appear Ready to Make Major Change with Julio Rodriguez in Spring Training
The Seattle Mariners offense was the main reason the franchise missed out on the playoffs for the 22nd time in 23 years in 2024.
The offense, at one point, was on pace to make the wrong kind of MLB history for the most strikeouts by a single team in a season. They ended up avoiding setting a new all-time mark in that category, but still finished dead last in the league in that statistic with 1,625.
Coinciding with the offense’s struggles, Seattle’s face of the franchise, Julio Rodriguez, had the worst season of his three-year career. He batted .273 with 20 homers and 68 RBIs. He also missed three weeks with an ankle sprain and was out of the outfield for over a month due to the same injury.
Rodriguez finished the year strong and hit .328 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs in September. But it was another season marked by a slow start. He hit .267 in April, .274 in May and .206 in June.
The Julio Rodríguez vs. Héctor Neris rematch from last September’s benches-clearing incident in Seattle ends with the Mariners’ center fielder going deep.
With it, Rodríguez secures a 20/20 season — his third straight to begin his career. pic.twitter.com/wY5yu6xX2B
— Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) September 25, 2024
Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto went on the ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast hosted by insider Buster Olney on Saturday to talk about Rodriguez’s slow starts, and offered a possible solution the team and the two-time All-Star might explore.
“It’s not due to a lack of preparation. Nobody works harder than Julio. I visited with him just early last month shortly after the season was over. He has a very structured and disciplined plan for how he approaches his offseason. He has, over the course his major league career, been more likely to start slow and finish fast. And our goal is to find a way to extend that over a seven-month period. And he’s proven to be one of the most talented and productive players in the game. We would love to see that start a little more in April or May and not wait until the weather warms so much and I know that’s a focus for him. … It’s not his training programs, it’s not a willingness to work and, frankly, it’s not a desire issue. He gets out there and wants to get after it. … We’ve already talked about getting more reps in Spring Training and maybe dial it back to the way it was in the (1990s) when the rest of us played. Instead of getting the 40 or 50 plate appearances in prep for the season, looking at something more like 70 or 90.”
On the podcast, https://t.co/6dxPf6Zi00 Jerry Dipoto discussed Julio Rodriguez’s recnet history of slow starts. pic.twitter.com/sQjKNIFSZp
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 15, 2024
Even though the offense’s struggles last year extended way beyond Rodriguez, it’s been said by several media personalities and analysts that Seattle goes as far as he goes.
The organization would likely to mitigate the risk of injury to their franchise centerpiece. But they also want to avoid another slow start. More at-bats in spring training could be the solution.
ARTICLE NAMES FORMER GOLD GLOVER AS SECOND BASE FIT FOR MARINERS: A Seattle Mariners reporter had St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan as a possible solution to the former’s second base issues in a recent article. CLICK HERE
DIPOTO CLARIFIED RALEY’S ROLE ON THE MARINERS FOR 2025: The Seattle Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto shared some insight on how the team will be constructed in 2025; Including the role of utility player Luke Raley. CLICK HERE
MARINERS REPORTEDLY PREPARING A PITCH FOR SASAKI: The Seattle Mariners will make an attempt to sign Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher Roki Sasaki when he is posted for free agency. CLICK HERE
Continue to follow our Inside the Mariners coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following Teren Kowatsch and Brady Farkas on “X” @Teren_Kowatsch and @wdevradiobrady. You can subscribe to the “Refuse to Lose” podcast by clicking HERE.
Seattle, WA
Seattle Kraken beat San Jose Sharks 4-2 to snap 4-game skid
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Ryan Lindgren had the tiebreaking goal early in the third period for his first score with the Seattle Kraken, and they went on to beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Saturday night to snap a four-game losing streak.
Seattle Kraken 4, San Jose Sharks 2: Box score
Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist, and Eeli Tolvanen and Ryker Evans also scored for the Kraken, who won for just the second time in 12 games (2-9-1). Joey Daccord finished with 34 saves.
Adam Gaudette and Colin Graf scored for the Sharks, and Yaroslav Askarov had 28 saves.
Graf gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead 36 seconds into the third period with some help from the Kraken.
Seattle’s Adam Dunn lofted a clearing attempt from behind the net that Igor Chernyshov intercepted in the left circle and sent a pass in front to Graf. Graf tried to lift it over Daccord down on the ice, but the puck deflected off the left post and in front as the goalie, on his back, tried to pull it in. However, Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson skated into the goalie and knocked the puck in.
Evans tied it again at 1:55 with a long shot from the left point through traffic.
Lindgren put the Kraken ahead 3-2 at 4:27, beating Askarov from the left point for the defenseman’s first goal in 33 games since signing with with Seattle in the offseason. Stephenson had an assist on the play to extend his point streak to eight games.
Stephenson then scored with 1:24 remaining to push Seattle’s lead to two goals and extend his goal-scoring streak to four games.
Tolvanen gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead at 6:52 of the second period, picking up a loose puck, skating into the right circle and firing a shot past Askarov.
Gaudette tied it with a power-play goal with 8:38 left in the middle period. Celebrini fired a shot at the net from the left point that deflected off teammate Igor Chernyshov in front of Daccord and off Gaudette down onto the ice for an easy backhand poke from the right doorstep.
Celebrini extended his point streak to five games on the play with eight assists and 11 points in the stretch.
Up next
Seattle Kraken: At Anaheim on Monday night.
San Jose Sharks: At Vegas on Tuesday night.
Seattle Kraken trade away their big offseason acquisition
Seattle, WA
Three West Seattle schools’ teams advance in FIRST Lego League competition
(Photos courtesy Brenda Hatley)
By Hayden Yu Andersen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Dozens of youth robotics teams from elementary and middle schools across the district gathered on December 6 at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School for this year’s FIRST Lego League qualifier. By the end of the day, three teams from West Seattle – Madison Middle School, Lafayette Elementary School, and Alki Elementary School – emerged triumphant, with their sights set on the next round of the tournament.
Of the schools who competed that day, nine were from West Seattle, including Genesee Hill Elementary, Fairmount Park Elementary, Gatewood Elementary, Arbor Heights Elementary, West Seattle Elementary, and the aforementioned teams that are moving up to the next round.
A local parent tipped us about the students’ achievement, so we set out to get details. We spoke with Brenda Hatley, a coach for Madison Middle School, the only West Seattle middle-school team to advance to the next round, and she says the turnout at the qualifiers was impressive. Hatley first became a coach for her son’s 4th-grade team and was one of the founding parents for Lafayette Elementary’s Lego Robotics team.
She says the program, which pairs engineering with LEGO, coding, and real-world projects, is a fantastic program for students who are less interested in athletics but still want to capture the excitement of a pep rally.
“It’s not a sports team, but they’re still getting so hyped up. The kids were cheering for each other, and the pressure was there; coaching through that was an incredible experience,” Hatley said.

Madison’s team, the Madbots, will play their next match on December 26th, at a to-be-determined location. The teams that do well this month will move on to the city-wide competition in Downtown Seattle, before moving to the regionals at Washington State University, and beyond to the international finals. Regardless of how they perform, Hatley says she and the other parents are planning to travel with their team to the city-wide and regional competitions.
“I’m really proud of the team,” Hatley said. “Last year, the fifth graders didn’t move on, and we had lower expectations; we just went in to learn more and get better. This year, we get to move on and see what the next level looks like.”
Seattle, WA
Redhawks Upset Huskies 70-66, Win Second Straight ‘Battle for Seattle’ — Emerald City Spectrum
With neither team shooting well from the outside at Climate Pledge Arena, the Redhawks outperformed the favored Huskies driving the ball to the paint in the second half, making more plays down the stretch to beat their city rivals for a second straight year.
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