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
Ranked: 5 Seattle Mariners who need to step up
The Seattle Mariners are in first place in the American League West, but it still feels like the team hasn’t reached its full potential.
Rost on Seattle Mariners: What we’ve learned a quarter through the season
Seattle’s pitching staff has been among the best in baseball. That was expected by many, especially those in the Pacific Northwest. The offense has had its highs, but it’s also had plenty of low moments throughout the year.
The Mariners start a 10-game road trip Friday where they’ll see two of the best teams in the American League. It starts with three games against the Baltimore Orioles followed by four at the New York Yankees. That means Seattle will need to put together complete performances to add to its run of winning eight of its nine past series.
For the Mariners to reach their full potential, some players need to step up. Mike Salk broke down who those Mariners are Friday during Ranked on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
Ty France
Ty France quickly became a fan favorite after arriving from the San Diego Padres via trade during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. France hit immediately with the Mariners, batting .302 in his brief 23-game stint in 2020 and posting a .291 average and .813 OPS while being named in All-Star in 2021. But the 29 year old has largely struggled since injuries slowed him down in 2022. After a disappointing 2023, France trained with Driveline Baseball to retool his swing in hopes of finding the same sort of improvement as teammate J.P. Crawford. It hasn’t been a scorching start to 2024 for France, but he’s starting to show signs of his offseason work paying dividends. He homered twice in this week’s three-game set against a strong Kansas City Royals pitching staff.
“You’re starting to see it at times, some breakout potential, but they banked on him at first base,” Salk said. “They really need him to be that or else that’s a spot that you just gotta find a replacement.”
Mitch Garver
The Mariners signed Mitch Garver to a two-year, $24 million contract this offseason, which made him the most expensive free agent bat president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto has ever signed. That deal came after Garver was one of the heroes of the Texas Rangers’ championship run. The designated hitter got off to perhaps the slowest start of many slow starters, and his batting average dipped to as low as .138 on May 3. Garver seems to be finding his swing in May, though. He’s raised his batting average to .174 and his OPS nearly 100 points to .634 this month.
“He’s been well below what the expectation was, well below what he was last year in Texas where he was one of their playoff heroes,” Salk said. “They need Mitch Garver to provide some of that insurance for Julio, some of that protection in the lineup and just be a veteran bat. You know what I want to see from him? Just RBIs, just driving in runs. I don’t care how you get there. I don’t need to see the home runs, just drive in runs, be a run producer, and if he can do that in the middle of the lineup, that will go a long way.”
Jorge Polanco
Polanco was supposed to be the answer to Seattle’s revolving door of second baseman when they sent four players to Minnesota Twins to get him this offseason, but he’s been nowhere near what the Mariners have expected. Polanco is hitting just .192 with a .606 OPS, which are both well below his career averages of .266 and .772. Perhaps most alarming has been Polanco’s skyrocketing strikeout rate. He’s fanning at a 31.5% clip this season, which is nearly 13% above his career average. The increased strikeouts are becoming a real trend for Polanco, who set career highs in strikeout rate in each of the past two seasons.
“That’s who they spent assets on in the offseason, more in terms of the prospects that they gave up, but his salary essentially replaced what they had given up in in Eugenio Suarez,” Salk said. “They were hoping because he’s a little younger, etcetera, you’d get an upgrade. You haven’t had that yet. You need that upgrade from Polanco getting on base, being productive, being a pest, giving a great at bat and, quite frankly, not striking out as much as he has.”
J.P. Crawford
J.P. Crawford is a leader in the Seattle clubhouse and broke out as one of the top offensive shortstops in 2023, setting career highs with a .380 on-base percentage, 19 homers, 65 RBIs and an .818 OPS. Crawford’s 2024 hasn’t been the same story. He was hitting just .198 with four-extra base hits in 98 plate appearances before a right oblique strain sidelined him in late April. Crawford seemed to be destined to return to the team for Friday’s series opener with Baltimore, but he was hit on the hand by a pitch in his presumed final rehab appearance with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reported Crawford did not travel with the team to Baltimore.
“Come back and be J.P. Crawford here heading into the next part of the season, because you do eventually want him hitting first or second in this lineup,” Salk said. “You do want his late-game heroics. You do want his clutch gene. You want everything that JP can bring to this lineup to be back and helping to make everything go at the top.”
Julio Rodríguez
Last August was a prime example of just how scorching-hot center fielder Julio Rodríguez can be at the plate and how he alone can essentially carry the Mariners’ offense. Rodríguez put up an absurd .429/.474/.724 slash line last August, which helped Seattle surge right back into the playoff race. Rodríguez hasn’t had near the impact the Mariners had hoped earlier this season, especially when it comes to his power production. He’s last among all Mariners with at least 100 plate appearances with just two home runs and seven extra-base hits.
“It’s Julio, man. They just need Julio to be Julio, and it’s getting there,” Salk said. “The at bats are improving, the contact is getting better. (We’re) still waiting for the pop, still waiting for the big moments where he drives in big runs. He’s perfectly capable of doing it. He had the one this year, with his first walkoff. Get Julio hot, man, and just watch the rest of this team follow.”
Listen to the full Ranked segment at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
More on the Seattle Mariners
• First-place Mariners face powerful Orioles: Three things to know
• Mariners the ‘team to beat’ in AL West? Why that’s now the case
• Video: Bob’s Breakdown – What’s changed most since start of season?
• Is expected return of Mariners’ J.P. Crawford now in doubt?
• Drayer: Rojas helping Julio an example of Seattle Mariners’ offense evolving
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.”
-
Entertainment2 minutes agoHow Culver City-based Scopely built ‘Monopoly Go!’ into a mobile games juggernaut
-
Politics14 minutes agoSupreme Court rules Trump may end legal protection for Haitians and Syrians
-
Science17 minutes agoDrug overdoses in L.A County drop for third straight year. Here’s why
-
Sports22 minutes agoDrug charges against U.S. skiing great Bode Miller to be dropped, his attorney says
-
World32 minutes agoPrioritise workers’ health during heatwaves, says ETUI
-
News59 minutes ago
Federal judge halts Trump’s election executive order seeking to create a federal voter list
-
Los Angeles, Ca2 hours agoBoyle Heights warehouse cleanup begins as crews face 85 million pounds of spoiled food
-
Detroit, MI3 hours agoWould Detroit Lions Salary Cap Be Wrecked If Terrion Arnold Gets Cut?
