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
Seattle Mariners Odds & Ends: MLB The Show ratings, uni notes
When it comes to following the Seattle Mariners, there’s more than just what happens on the field and in the box scores. Some fans like to play as the Mariners in video games, or maybe they’re more into keeping up on the latest uniform changes and official hats.
If that piques your interest, well, this notebook is for you.
Morosi on Mariners: Why Ryan Bliss is potential rookie to watch
Here’s a look at some of those odd and ends concerning the Mariners as we get ready for the 2024 MLB season.
Seattle Mariners’ top MLB The Show ratings
On Thursday, a ratings reveal stream was aired on the MLB The Show Twitch channel, and we got our first look at how the Mariners’ top players will be rated for the annual video game (the 2024 version is set to be released March 19).
A quick breakdown of how the ratings work: 85 or higher is in the diamond tier, 80-84 is considered gold, 75-79 is silver, 60-74 is bronze, and anything below is considered common. So how do the Mariners shake out? Only their five highest-rated players were revealed, and they have three diamonds and two golds just on the cusp on the highest level. Not too shabby.
Leading the list is no surprise: Julio Rodríguez, Seattle’s superstar center fielder, is one of the best players in the game with a 93 overall rating.
JULIOOOOOO! 🔱@Mariners @MLBDominicana
https://t.co/vGJG5kjolU#MLBTheShow pic.twitter.com/uIl39lWtAX— MLB The Show (@MLBTheShow) March 7, 2024
Next up is ace Luis Castillo at 87, but he’s not the only diamond starting pitcher for the M’s. Fellow 2023 Mariners All-Star George Kirby is an 85 overall.
As for the golds, both catcher Cal Raleigh and relief pitcher Andrés Muñoz are 84 ratings.
Raleigh actually appeared on the stream as he was asked him what he thought his ratings are. True to his down to earth personality, he guessed low.
Big Dumper overall! 😂@Mariners https://t.co/vGJG5kjolU#MLBTheShow pic.twitter.com/EYv2tRrFHr
— MLB The Show (@MLBTheShow) March 7, 2024
You can find the Mariners portion of the MLB The Show Twitch stream around the two-hour, 34-minute mark at this link.
What the M’s are wearing
You’ve probably seen all the uproar about the new Nike-designed, Fanatics-produced jerseys and pants around MLB this season, so we won’t dive into that here. For more info, though, check out either of the two articles linked below.
Fanatics founder: Company unfairly blamed | Players miffed at unis, relaying concerns
As for Mariners-specific updates, there are a few, though nothing is earth-shattering.
First, the navy jerseys that have become the regular choice for road games will have the same font for the nameplate on the back as all the other M’s jerseys. Uni Watch covered that in detail here, and it’s safe to say this change will make a lot of fans happy.
Next, there is an interesting bit of speculation entering the second year of Seattle’s City Connect uniforms. On Wednesday, this picture of Rodríguez caught some attention because it shows him wearing the blue City Connect jersey and hat with white pants – not the controversial black pants they were paired with in 2023. Whether or not this is a sign of things to come in 2024, it does make for a pleasing, clean look (I’d still flip the hat’s logo in a direction that isn’t associated with bad luck, but I digress).
Speaking of hat logos, the Mariners have a pretty sharp new batting practice cap.
The 2024 Batting Practice cap has arrived! This cap brings the iconic “S” of the ‘80s to the color scheme of the ‘90s.
Visit https://t.co/lM0TOmoNU8 for store locations and hours. Can’t make it in? Call us at 206.346.4287 to place an order. pic.twitter.com/MYxdQvENai
— Mariners Team Store (@MarinersStore) February 20, 2024
This utilizes the ‘S’ logo from 1987-92 but in the team’s current color scheme of Northwest green, navy and white. I can’t remember an official M’s cap ever using a white front panel (save for an All-Star Game), and let me just say, that’s a great move.
The Mariners have also been wearing new spring training caps. This one is maybe even more of a departure as the primary color is mint, so it’s not quite the same shade as the Northwest Green jerseys it has been paired with. I’m never mad any time the compass logo gets to shine on its own (remember these bad boys in the late 90s?), so another good offering for the hat enthusiasts out there.
2024 Spring Training caps are here and they are 🔥! Get yours today at our @TMobilePark or Downtown Seattle Team Stores. We open at 11am, see you then! 😎 pic.twitter.com/8uFDZf8vx6
— Mariners Team Store (@MarinersStore) February 5, 2024
Promotions
There are a ton of fun giveaways in the first month alone of the M’s season at T-Mobile Park.
For example, three straight nights of Julio Rodríguez “No Fly Zone” bobbleheads from April 1-3 against the Guardians. Or a similar three-game series against Cincinnati from April 15-17 where the promotion is a Ken Griffey Jr. “Home Run Robbery” bobblehead.
If Julio says it’s 🔥, then it’s 🔥
Get your @JRODshow44 bobblehead when we take on the Guardians, April 1-3.
🎟️ https://t.co/LvQDOOEjIN pic.twitter.com/AN7V23qDGP
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) March 1, 2024
On April 26 against Arizona will be Mariners Turn Ahead the Clock Jersey Night, with the first 15,000 fans receiving the sleeveless black-and-red gem (sorry, the M’s themselves will not be wearing those uniforms against the D-backs).
Click here to go through the full list of promotions, including additional bobbleheads, Funkos, themed jerseys, hats and more.
Until the M’s return to Seattle to begin the regular season on March 28 against the Boston Red Sox, don’t forget that every radio broadcast from spring training is live on the Seattle Sports app. For more details plus a schedule, click here.
Mariners coverage from Seattle Sports
• Mariners Notebook: Some standouts plus a tip of cap to Zunino
• Former Mariners catcher Mike Zunino retires after 11 MLB seasons
• Mariners Notebook: Gilbert’s outing, highlights and more
• How Mariners’ Matt Brash feels as he resumes throwing
• ESPN’s Olney: Seattle Mariners have many thinking they can win AL West
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.”
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Las Vegas could be years away from landing an NBA expansion team, but the league’s commissioner is now offering a clearer sense of the timeline.
On Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told “The Dan Patrick Show” that Seattle and Las Vegas remain the cities the NBA is focused on if it expands. “If we expand, at least we’re thinking ’28-29 season,” Silver said.
Silver had previously signaled before that March meeting that Seattle and Las Vegas were at the center of the expansion discussion, while cautioning that no decision had been made.
“We will make decisions in 2026,” Silver said in February.
At the time, Silver said the league was not expected to vote in March but could emerge from those meetings ready to take the next step and begin discussions with potential ownership groups.
Las Vegas has long been viewed as Seattle’s most likely expansion partner if the NBA grows from 30 to 32 teams. Silver, however, has repeatedly said the league could expand by two teams, one team, or not at all.
The potential of an NBA Las Vegas expansion team has already drawn interest. This week, majority owner of the Vegas Golden Knights, Bill Foley, announced he is putting together a bid for the expansion team in Las Vegas.
-
Vermont2 minutes agoExperienced pros have Vermont Green women’s team on cusp of USLW playoffs
-
Virginia8 minutes agoVirginia Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 Night results for June 24, 2026
-
Wisconsin17 minutes agoWisconsin Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for June 24, 2026
-
West Virginia23 minutes agoMorrisey announces more than $700,000 to support rural domestic violence and sexual assault victims
-
Wyoming29 minutes agoPolitics in the Park: GOP gubernatorial candidates share visions for Wyoming governor
-
Crypto33 minutes agoThe cryptocurrency industry has entered the “Show Me” era: merely relying on vision is no longer enough | WEEX Crypto News
-
Finance38 minutes agoQuadient Recognized as a Leader in the 2026 SPARK Matrix for Accounts Receivable Applications
-
Fitness45 minutes ago22 Trainer-Approved Bodyweight Exercises That Actually Build Muscle
