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
Why the Seattle Mariners 'feel great' about their 2025 bullpen
After being a major part of the team’s success in recent years, the bullpen was a surprising factor in the Seattle Mariners’ downfall last season.
GM Hollander: How Seattle Mariners view their infield for 2025
The overall numbers for the group were actually pretty solid. It finished ninth among MLB teams in ERA (3.71), 15th in FIP (3.91) and fourth in strikeout rate (9.57 K/9) while surrendering the second-least amount of hard contact (27.1%). But when the Mariners struggled for the first two months of the summer and saw their 10-game lead in the American League West crumble in a record-setting 24 days, a number of blow-ups from the bullpen were a main culprit.
From June 19 to Aug. 21, many of the numbers listed above declined steeply while the team went through a brutal 20-33 run. Seattle’s bullpen ranked 20th in ERA (4.20), 22nd in FIP (4.31) and eighth in strikeout rate (9.52 K/9) while giving up the 11th-least amount of hard contact (30.0%). During that stretch, the bullpen produced a minus-0.5 fWAR and nearly as many blown saves (15) as saves (18).
The Mariners didn’t add a significant piece to their bullpen this offseason, but general manager Justin Hollander is confident in the group heading into 2025. He explained why during a conversation Wednesday with Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.
The anticipated return of hard-throwing right-hander Matt Brash is a big reason.
“I mostly feel great about the bullpen because Matt is doing great, and really, really we missed Matt a lot last year,” Hollander said. “I can’t overstate how valuable he is as sort of a fixer. We would call him the pivot man or a setup man in previous iterations of bullpen construction. He’s one of the best relievers in baseball.”
Brash was a major component in Seattle’s bullpen in 2022 and 2023. He was often called upon to use elite ability to miss bats to escape jams with runners on base. In 2023, he led MLB with 78 games pitched and posted a 3.06 ERA with 107 strikeouts over 70 2/3 innings. All-Star Baltimore Orioles closer Félix Bautista was the only reliever to strike out more batters that season.
However, Brash didn’t throw a pitch during the 2024 season for the Mariners. He started the year on the injured list with right elbow inflammation before eventually undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow.
“He is doing phenomenally well,” Hollander said of Brash’s rehab process. “I would anticipate that he’s back in big league games, if he stays on track, by the end of April – which is a big boost for our club.”
A healthy Brash would give the Mariners another high-leverage reliever to bridge the gap to All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz. Seattle is hoping right-hander Gregory Santos can have a healthy season, too, after he battled multiple injuries in 2024.
Hollander also pointed to the emergence of right-hander Colin Snider and the performances of fellow righties Trent Thornton and Eduard Bazardo as reasons to be optimistic about the bullpen.
“We feel like we have a really good bullpen from the right side,” Hollander said.
As for the lefties? The Mariners are set to welcome back Tahoma High School alum Tayler Saucedo (who has a 3.54 ERA over 86 1/3 innings in two seasons with Seattle) and are hoping for a rebound campaign from Gabe Speier. Speier posted a 3.79 ERA over 54 2/3 innings in 2023, but struggled after a strong April last year. After allowing only one run in 12 April appearances, Speier had five outings with two runs allowed in May before landing on the IL with a rotator cuff strain in his pitching arm. He bounced between Seattle and Triple-A Tacoma after returning and finished the year with a 5.70 ERA in 23 2/3 big league innings.
“(We) feel like he’s going to come back and has had a really good offseason building into what we think will be a big bounce back for him this year,” Hollander said.
Listen to the full conversation with Mariners general manager Justin Hollander at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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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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