The A’s came into Seattle on Monday evening and used some late-game offense to take the first of this three-game set. Back in the win column, and back atop the AL West with sole possession of the division lead.
Seattle, WA
At age 94, Seattle’s oldest bartender announces ‘last call’
Driving down Lake City Way, there’s a warm light in the distance — a beacon calling you to a bar room full of beers and bands. The soft, yellow light that’s been glowing decades is the sign for the Shanty Tavern, though it’s known by another name to its owner.
“She is called Miss Shanty,” John Spaccarotelli tells KUOW. He’s owned the place and poured drinks for “umpteen years.”
More precisely, John Spaccarotelli has spent 64 years at this spot on the edge of the road in Lake City, running what’s referred to as the “last roadhouse” in Seattle.
This style of a neighborhood bar, equipped with a dance floor, used to be more common decades ago. John Spaccarotelli’s patrons and family see it as a vanishing piece of Seattle culture.
“There’s just something special about this place,” says Lisa Casal, who comes in for music regularly and enjoys a front row seat at the bar. “These places are disappearing — and it’s sad.”
For the last few years, John Spaccarotelli has only been opening the Shanty Tavern on Friday nights for beer and live music. His three daughters and his grandkids are here to help him out through the busy closing night.
Many of the business’s regulars live in Lake City and walk to the bar from their homes. Now they’re figuring what they’ll do with their Friday nights once the tavern’s doors close.
One regular, Eric Beam, has a “reserved” barstool at the far end of the bar, where he can always be found reading a thick book.
“I come here at the end of the week, sit here, and talk stories with John,” Beam says. “And I leave with a big smile on my face, feeling better. I’m really going to miss that.”
John Spaccarotelli doesn’t plan to sell the land or building, but the 94-year-old said retirement is calling.
“I’m just going to take it easy for a while,” he says.
The Shanty Tavern has been home to longtime regulars like Michael Wansley, better known around here as Wanz, who’s been coming since the 1990s.
“[I] come down here every Friday with a whole bunch of the neighborhood cats,” he says. “We hang out here, play pool, drink beer.”
On its last Friday night open, the Shanty Tavern is much busier than usual, Wansley says, because this is one of the last nights The Shanty Tavern is pouring beers.
People have come to pay their respects and give one last toast.
“I would toast the fact that the beer is always cold, the jokes are almost always dirty, and the asses are always smart,” Wansley says with a raised glass.
In the low, crowded barroom, the Rat City Brass Band wails in one corner. The dance floor is so packed, the floorboards bounce up and down.
John Noe books the bands here. And since the place is so busy on closing night, he’s helping pick up empty bottles, too.
“Twelve years doing this, so it’s the end of an era,” Noe says. “Kind of bittersweet tonight. You know, they’ve become a part of my family.”
It’s an emotional night for the entire Spaccarotelli family. John Spaccarotelli’s daughter, Dayna, has been working with him here for the past 18 years.
“Lot of tears will come later, [I’m] trying to hold it together right now,” Dayna Spaccarotelli says. “My whole life has been here.”
She grew up here with her two sisters. The three used to come in to “help” their dad.
“We’d dance to the jukebox. We’d play shuffleboard and pool. We’d throw darts,” Dayna Spaccarotelli says.
A lot of old regulars made the trip on Friday to say goodbye to the Spaccarotellis. The hardest part, Dayna Spaccarotelli says, is seeing all these old faces and sharing memories.
“I just keep telling myself to just get through tonight. Just get through tonight. It’ll be okay,” Dayna says. “It’s not going to be okay.”
John Spaccarotelli says he plans to spend more time with his family after his retirement. He also wants more time to do what he loves: dancing. He even met a potential new dance partner at the bar’s last call.
“She says she likes to dance,” he said. “Ao I’ll find out if she likes to dance that much with me.”
By around 1:15 a.m., the Shanty Tavern crowd has slimmed down, but the bar’s regulars, who don’t want the place to close yet, have stuck around.
Fulvio Longo, who has a favorite corner barstool, brought in some champagne and is singing goodbye songs with John Spaccarotelli.
Then comes the moment everyone’s been dreading:
“Last call! Last call!” John Spaccarotelli shouts out above the noise. “That’s it, everybody. Last call.”
John Spaccarotelli insists this isn’t goodbye, though.
He says he’ll host one more open house in January and then maybe rent the place out.
But no matter what, the glowing sign isn’t coming down, he says.
“Thank you for the good times with the people that I’ve met,” he says. “And hopefully I’ll meet someone on the street saying, ‘Hi, John.’”
Ginn struggles early, settles in
On the mound tonight starting for the A’s was right-hander J.T. Ginn. He came into tonight on a mini roll, having put up two quality outings since getting inserted into the starting rotation.
Facing the Mariners for the very first time, Seattle greeted Ginn with two runs in the first, a solo homer off the bat of Cal Raleigh and an RBI double from first baseman Josh Naylor. They’d get Ginn for one more run in the second as well off another homer, this one coming courtesy of Dominic Canzone.
Those early-game struggles weren’t great, but Ginn was sent out for the third and finally had a shutdown inning, collecting three strikeouts in the third. The 26-year-old would go on to pitch all the way into the sixth without allowing another run and leaving with one out in the inning. He ended his night on a high note as well, getting Randy Arozarena to strike out swinging for his sixth K of the night.
- J.T. Ginn: 5 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 2 HR, 92 pitches
Well it was a little dicey in the first two frames but Ginn did good to buckle himself down and provide his team with some extra innings. Mark Kotsay made a good call letting Ginn work his way back into this one, and his offense would pick him up later tonight.
Offense struggles early, comes on strong late
On the other side of the ball, the A’s lineup was facing M’s righty Emerson Hancock. For the first few innings the A’s did have much of an answer for the former top prospect, collecting just a pair of singles the first time through the order.
The second time through the order the A’s batters were able to start getting a better read on Hancock. Leading off the top of the fourth, tonight’s DH Carlos Cortes connected on a fastball high and in and drove it over the wall in right field to get the A’s on the board for the first time tonight:
That was #2 on the year for Cortes, who came through with a massive night while hitting in the #3 spot of the order. Mark Kotsay was right again tonight about batting him in such a big spot in the lineup.
The A’s were starting to make better contact but it took a couple more innings for the big ones to come. Now into the sixth and with the top of the lineup at the plate this was about as good an opportunity as the team could hope for. Well first baseman Nick Kurtz strode to the plate and connected on a fastball right down the middle for another solo shot to cut the lead to one:
The A’s didn’t have to wait long for that next run either. Shea Langeliers came up right behind Kurtz and blasted his own solo shot, swatting another hanging fastball down the pipe and depositing it over the wall in center:
Tie game. That was his 7th of the year. The A’s had Hancock’s number and the Mariners knew it. That third homer of the night chased Hancock from this contest. The Athletics kept up the pressure against the bullpen, loading the bases that very same frame but weren’t able to cash in and take the lead. And with Ginn soon departing as well, it was going to be down to the bullpens to determine who would win tonight.
Left-hander Hogan Harris relieved Ginn in the sixth and not only finished the frame but handled the seventh as well. It was a perfect outing for Harris; no hits, no walks, plus a pair of punchouts to boot. Tonight was his team-leading 13th appearance and he’s been everything the A’s could have hoped for in the early going.
Now into the eighth, the A’s finally broke through in a big way. A double, single, and walk loaded the bases with no outs and the team was cooking. Third baseman Max Muncy made sure to drive in at least one with a productive sac fly that gave the A’s their first lead of the night.
After that it was Lawrence Butler’s turn at the plate and he came through with the biggest hit of the game, a two-run single to push the A’s lead to three runs:
Now with a lead and some extra breathing room A’s fans could relax and enjoy the rest of the game. Or so we thought. The Mariners did not go down quietly in this one. Mark Leiter Jr. took over for the eighth and gave up a pair of hits with both reaching scoring position and just one out. He managed to pull a Houdini with a massive strikeout of Arozarena and a flyout to end the threat, but that was a close one.
Then it was Joel Kuhnel on for the ninth for his fourth save opportunity. The right-hander, who did not start the season with the big league club, got the first out but then a single and RBI double cut into the lead and woke us all back up. Now with the tying run at the plate Kuhnel needed to be nails. And he was, getting J.P. Crawford to pop out and Raleigh to fly out to end the game.
A’s win! A solid performance all around. The bats took some time to get going but they came through in a big way late. Three homers. Four players getting multiple hits. Carlos Cortes going 4-for-4. Then Ginn had some early struggles but did a good job of not letting it snowball and get out of hand. He really saved the bullpen by being able to pitch into the sixth. Speaking of the ‘pen, the three arms combined pitched nearly four innings, and while it got a little dicey at times they bent but didn’t break. Kuhnel is now 4-for-4 in save opportunities which leads the team. Do we finally have our closer? And who would have seen this coming?
We’re back in first place and we’ll have an opportunity to add to that lead tomorrow evening when these teams meet back up for the second game of the series. For the A’s they’ll send left-hander Jacob Lopez to the bump. It hasn’t been a smooth start to the season for the lefty and he’ll need to show more than he has up to this point if he wants to keep ahold of his spot in the rotation. Walks especially have been a major problem for him so far as he has 17 in 18 innings of work. Overall he’ll bring a 6.38 ERA into tomorrow’s contest.
As for Seattle, they’ll have veteran Luis Castillo getting the ball for them for the middle game. The 33-year-old right-hander has had a so-so start to his year. He had a disaster performance a couple starts ago, when he got shelled for seven runs. Before that he pitched six shutout innings in his first appearance, 3 2/3 with three runs allowed in his second, the blowup game, and most recently he tossed 5 1/3 with just one run allowed against the Padres. Hard to know which version of Castillo will show up tomorrow but the A’s will be ready. In his career against the Athletics he has a nice 3.02 ERA in nine starts, so we’ll be hoping to boost that number a bit tomorrow night.
Seattle, WA
Delta flight from Seoul to Atlanta diverted to Seattle after report of suspicious package
SEATTLE — Delta Air Lines Flight 188, traveling from Incheon International Airport in South Korea to Atlanta, was diverted to Seattle on Monday morning after a suspicious package was reported on board.
The flight, a regularly scheduled service between Seoul-Incheon and Atlanta, diverted to Seattle around 10: 30 a.m. It was originally supposed to land in Atlanta at 5 p.m.
Delta released a statement that the diversion was initiated after reports of a “suspicious package” onboard, with the flight crew making the decision out of an abundance of caution.
After landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the plane was staged at Taxiway Tango on the airfield. Passengers were deplaned to buses while investigators assessed and swept the aircraft, and officials met the plane to conduct additional security screening.
Delta stated that no credible threat was discovered and no arrests were made. After the plane was cleared, passengers were reboarded and cleared to head to the gate and go through Customs.
Delta said it is supporting an investigation involving law enforcement, aviation regulators, and others.
A whimsical world of whiskers, creativity, and community took over Seattle Center this weekend as POP Cats 2026 returned for a celebration of all things feline. The immersive convention turned the Exhibition Hall into a vibrant ‘cat city,’ complete with colorful art installations, interactive exhibits and endless photo ops. From adoptable rescue cats and hands-on workshops to cosplay, shopping, and meetups with fellow cat lovers, the event blended fun with purpose. Attendees could even bring their own cats, making it one of the few conventions where pets are part of the experience. Felines and their human friends embraced a joyful, cat-filled escape and one meow-velous weekend in Seattle. (Image: Elizabeth Crook / Seattle Refined) April 18, 2026{ }
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