Jorge Polanco won’t be back with the Seattle Mariners next season, but he left the club and its fan base heartfelt message after his signing with the New York Mets became official on Tuesday.

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Polanco, who signed a two-year, $40 million deal with the Mets, posted the following to his Instagram page.

#Godfirst. I cannot express with words how grateful me and my family are for the belief YOU had in me. First you traded for me and then you signed me when everyone else doubted me after surgery. YOU made me feel wanted and loved and I will be forever grateful for that. I became a better player and person because of YOU. YOU embraced my wife, kids, and me as one of your own…again, I will be forever grateful for that. YOU were an inspiration for me every night and I just wish we could have delivered you the trophy YOU deserve. I will always cherish my time with YOU…I will never forget these last two years because of YOU.

YOU= Seattle Fans, Teammates, Trainers, Coaching Staff, Front Office, and Owner.

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I will always smile thinking of YOU all.

Tridents UP!

Polanco was hindered by a knee issue and had a disappointing first season with the Mariners in 2024 after he was acquired in a trade that sent four players to Minnesota. But after coming back to the M’s on a one-year deal before the start of 2025, he had a resurgent campaign that helped key the club’s run its first American League West title and AL Championship Series appearance since 2001.

After posting career worsts with a .213 average and 29.2% strikeout rate in 2024, the 32-year-old second baseman and designated hitter batted .265 with an .821 OPS, 30 doubles, 26 home runs and 78 RBIs over 138 games in 2025. His strikeout rate dropped to 15.6%, marking the largest year-to-year dip in strikeout percentage in MLB history (minimum 450 plate appearances), per MLB.com’s Mike Petriello.

Polanco was extremely clutch for the Mariners all season long. He led the league with a 1.284 OPS and 259 wRC+ in high-leverage situations, and his .438 batting average was second.

That clutch hitting showed up in the postseason as well. Polanco homered twice off two-time reigning AL Cy Young-winner Tarik Skubal during Game 2 of the AL Division Series and delivered one of the biggest hits in Mariners history with a walk-off single in the 15th inning of their series-clinching Game 5 win. He also hit the go-ahead three-run homer in Seattle’s Game 2 ALCS win.

Polanco triggered a $6 million player option for 2026 by reaching 450 plate appearances in the regular season, but he declined the option to become a free agent. He was a top offseason target for Seattle before signing with New York.

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — The NBA plans to make a decision regarding domestic expansion in the coming year, Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday, offering the most definitive timeline since the league began exploring the possibility of moving from 30 to 32 teams.

And if there are favorites, as has long been expected, Las Vegas and Seattle are at the top of the list.

“Not a secret, we’re looking at this market in Las Vegas. We are looking at Seattle,” Silver said before the NBA Cup final between San Antonio and New York. “We’ve looked at other markets as well. I’d say I want to be sensitive there about this notion that we’re somehow teasing these markets, because I know we’ve been talking about it for a while.”

Expansion has been a topic for years in the NBA, and it’s no secret that Seattle — which had a team until the SuperSonics were moved to Oklahoma City in 2008 — and Las Vegas have long been clamoring for franchises.

“I think Seattle and Las Vegas are two incredible cities,” Silver said. “Obviously we had a team in Seattle that had great success. We have a WNBA team here in Las Vegas in the Aces. … I don’t have any doubt that Las Vegas, despite all of the other major league teams that are here now, the other entertainment properties, that this city could support an NBA team.

“I think now we’re in the process of working with our teams and gauging the level of interest and having a better understanding of what the economics would be on the ground for those particular teams and what a pro forma would look like for them, and then sometime in 2026 we’ll make a determination.”

Cup future

Silver revealed on Amazon Prime Video’s pregame show for the NBA Cup final that the title game of the tournament may move away from Las Vegas.

Among the sites under consideration: “Some storied college arenas,” Silver said. “We’re looking at other ways we can do this.”

Semifinal games in the Cup will be played at No. 1 seed home sites starting next season, so the concept of a final four in Las Vegas was going to change in 2026 anyway.

Cup viewership increases

Going to a streaming service hasn’t prevented fans from watching the NBA Cup.

Saturday night’s semifinals on Prime Video — in its first season as a league broadcast partner — averaged 1.67 million viewers, a 14% increase over last season’s semifinals.

And Saturday’s doubleheader — San Antonio vs. Oklahoma City and New York vs. Toronto — saw a 126% year-over-year increase in social media views, the league said, with more than 400 million views across all platforms.

NBA Europe plans

Silver hinted that there might be some news next month on the plans for the NBA’s project with FIBA to start a league in Europe.

That makes sense, with the league set to play regular-season games in Berlin and London next month when Orlando and Memphis go over for a pair of matchups.

“I would say we’re casting a very, very wide net right now and essentially saying to anyone who’s interested, come see our bankers, explain to us why you’re interested, how you view the opportunity, what resources you would put behind opening a team, and then we’re taking all that information back,” Silver said. “And then I think sometime in late January, or in January, we’ll be in a position to have more serious conversations with those interested parties.”

Silver said he got the news on Chris Paul being sent home by the Los Angeles Clippers the same way basically everyone else did: He checked his phone in the middle of the night.

“I will say I was dismayed just for everyone involved,” Silver said. “As you know, I’m particularly close to Chris because he was president of the Players Association many years. … I would love to see him finish off the season on another team. He’s already announced this is his last season, so I’d love to see him finish strong.”

Silver said it’s not his role “to cross-examine the participants” and added that he hasn’t talked to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer about what happened.

“It’s an unfortunate situation that it ended the way it did,” Silver said. “So, I’m focused, and I hope Chris is now, on the future.”

Silver says WNBA talks are progressing

Silver said he and NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum are available to help the WNBA and its players strike a new labor deal, if needed.

Silver said he’s “optimistic” a deal will get done.

“I’m tracking things very closely,” Silver said. “We’re integrated at the league office. I talk to the people who are at the negotiating table on a daily basis. As I’ve said before, we, the NBA-WNBA collective, acknowledged that our players deserve to be paid significantly more than they have so far based on the increased success of the league. It’s just a question now of finding a meeting of the minds in terms of what is a fair deal. It’s going to require compromise on both sides.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

The Seattle Seahawks keep winning football games, but recently the offense has been showing signs of regression after a strong start to the season.

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Seattle’s offensive woes were magnified in its 18-16 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. The unit had another slow first half, producing just 80 yards, and didn’t reach the end zone the entire game. The running game also produced just 50 yards on 22 carries. However, the Seahawks able to put together six drives that ended in field goals to squeak by a team they were heavily favored against.

Over its past five games, four of which were wins, the Seahawks have only one first-half touchdown. All four of those wins have come against teams starting unproven rookies or past-their-prime veterans, including a 44-year-old Philip Rivers who was playing in his first game since retiring after the 2020 season. The one loss came against Matthew Stafford and the Rams, who the Seahawks face in a pivotal NFC West showdown on Thursday.

Have Seattle’s recent problems on offense, particularly the slow starts in the first half, become a big concern moving forward? FOX color analyst and former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth doesn’t seem to think so. Schlereth explained why the bottom line with the Seahawks team is that it keeps finding ways to win football games during his weekly conversation with Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Monday.

“Everybody game plans you, everybody’s got really good players. It’s hard to consistently win,” Schlereth said. “I think there’s a lot to be said for finding ways to win.”

Similar to when the Seahawks beat a Vikings squad led by undrafted rookie quarterback Max Brosmer in Week 13 after a slow start on offense, Schlereth saw the victory over the Colts as the Seahawks adapting to an opponent with a good defense but a quarterback who likely wasn’t going to be able to beat them without mistakes on Seattle’s end. And to the Seahawks’ credit, they didn’t have any turnovers against Indianapolis, which entered the game tied for the eighth-most takeaways in the league.

“I talked about the way the Indianapolis approached this game (with) the quick (passing) game, getting rid of it, screens, all those different things. Sometimes when the coaching staff puts a game plan together, it’s not necessarily about scoring 50. It’s about, how do we win this game?” Schlereth said. “And sometimes the best way to win a game is to say, ‘Hey man, we just can’t let our quarterback get hit, or we just can’t take a risk with the football,’ whatever that happens to be that week, and every week it changes.

“Sometimes you’re right, sometimes you lack some efficiency. But the bottom line to me is every week you find ways to win, that to me is the sign of a really good football team, and it’s done in a bunch of different fashions. So I just tip my cap.”

Schlereth added that one aspect that gives him confidence in Seattle’s offense to come through when needed is the connection between quarterback Sam Darnold and league-leading receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

“I will say this, the connection between Sam Darnold and (Jaxon) Smith-Njigba is special,” he said. “When they’ve got to have a big-time play, when they’ve got to have yardage, they seem to be able to find those yards, those big-time plays. That part to me is special.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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