A Grip on Sports: If you want to beat the heat and stay inside this weekend, you can watch the Olympic teams being formed, the Stanley Cup being handed out and the M’s roll

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Summer is officially here, whether we use the calendar test or the warmth one. Does that mean we are in line for an end-of-June swoon by the local MLB team? And will college baseball’s season end before the NHL’s does? Such are the questions we face as we explore our weekend TV options.

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• Yes, when you have to drive about five-hours to watch the Mariners in person, the word “local” might be a stretch. But they are on TV in our market pretty much every day from April to October, so the term does apply. And this weekend, as Seattle faces a key series in Miami, reasons for which will become apparent soon, watching them will be easy – as opposed to a few weekends recently.

All you have to do is keep paying the outrageous fee for Root Sports.

See, the M’s are on Root tonight (4:10), Saturday afternoon (1:10) and Sunday morning (10:40). Easy-peasy.

And why is the three-game series in Miami so important? To avoid any talk of the aforementioned swoon. Oops, we already mentioned it, didn’t we? Remember when the M’s were 13 games over .500? And 10 games up in the American League West? Well, that’s the not the case today. They are 11 games over. And lead second-place Houston – ya, the Astros, not the Rangers – by eight games.

Don’t worry, though. Seattle built its lead not by beating the Clevelands of the world. That became clear Thursday in the fifth inning when the Guardians were not missing Luis Castillo’s misses en route to a 6-3 victory.

The M’s built their lead on a huge edge against baseball’s weaker teams.

After Thursday’s defeat, Seattle is 5-8 this year, with a -32 run-differential, against the Yankees, Orioles and Guardians. The trio better known as “The Class of the American League.” Which means Seattle has feasted on pretty much everyone else. And by “feasted,” we mean they are 39-25. And are on the good side of the scoring ledger by 43 runs.

Enter Miami. The Marlins are not good. As in 25-49. Twenty-four games behind the Phillies in the N.L. East. A whopping -115 in run differential. It’s time for some momentum building. See, after the three in Miami, the schedule gets tougher.

Three in Tampa. Home for three games each against the Twins, Orioles and Toronto. Twelve games, facing four teams a combined 24 games over .500, gets us past the Fourth and within three weeks of the trade deadline. If Jerry Dipoto doesn’t know now what this team needs to compete with the best, he will by then.

The question to be answered: Will he be able to do anything to fix it?

• The College World Series’ best-of-three final series, pitting two schools from the drowning-in-cash SEC, begins Saturday (4:30 p.m., ESPN). If needed, Texas A&M and Tennessee will finish Monday. College sports’ most summer of spring sports will then be done.

The question is, will the most winter of professional winter sports, the one played on ice, still be going on?

Florida is in Edmonton tonight (5, ABC), still carrying a Stanley Cup Final lead but having seen its momentum melted away. The Oilers have won at home, in South Florida and now, with one more triumph, would head back to the Miami area trying to become only the second team to overcome a 3-0 Finals deficit.
A win tonight and we find out Monday night who is this year’s NHL champ. And whether ice hockey can outlast college baseball.

• The rest of the weekend’s schedule? With the Olympics next month in Paris, the U.S. swimming team has been coming together all week in Indianapolis. And by “coming together,” we mean beating each other’s brains out to make the most competitive squad in the world. The trials continue tonight (5) on NBC. They continue Saturday (10 a.m. and 4 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m. and 4 p.m.) But the swimmers and divers are no longer alone.

The track and field trials begin today in Eugene – where else? – with NBC showing the main events Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (6 p.m.) and Sunday (5:30 p.m.). There is also coverage on USA today (3:30 p.m.).

The best of the rest? Soccer is smack in the middle of its mid-World Cup competitions, with the Euros on the Fox family of networks – when the Copa America tournament, pitting the best of North and South America, isn’t. Plus, the LPGA is in Sammamish for the women’s PGA championship, at Sahalee Country Club. NBC is working that in with its crowded Olympic trial coverage.

For a warm, let’s-get-outside-and-enjoy-the-weather weekend, there’s a lot on.

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WSU: It’s been a while since Moscow-born-and-raised Paul Ryan raced for the Cougars. But his Palouse legacy could be burnished a bit this weekend as he tries to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team in the 1,500 meters. Peter Harriman has this story. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner passes along the weekly recruiting update in the Mercury News. … Former Stanford coach David Shaw has found work. In the NFL. In Denver. … The Oregonian’s football numbers countdown continues, with No. 72 for Oregon and Oregon State and No. 71 for the Beavers. … Utah has five transfers who should have a big impact in the fall. … J.R. Payne, who was once an assistant at Gonzaga, is rebuilding the Colorado women’s roster once more. And she will do it with a revamped staff. … Utah’s men lost a big part of its inside attack when Keba Keita transferred to BYU. … There is a shortfall in the Arizona athletic budget. … Finally, the NCAA is sharing plans to expand the basketball tournaments.

Gonzaga: Wil Smith, who attended Lewis and Clark High before continuing his running career with the Bulldogs, will try to make the U.S. Olympic team in the 10,000 meters today. John Blanchette covers Smith’s recent trials, tribulations and unexpected success in this story. … Courtney Vandersloot has stepped away from the New York Liberty due to the death of her mother, Jan, this week.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, we have an Olympic trials story from Montana State. … We have a football camp story from Northern Colorado. … And we have basketball stories from Idaho State, including one on the summer trip to Paris the women’s team is making. Also, former Ferris High standout Kacey Spink was named the Bengals’ MVP, the top defensive player and also won the Dana Beechie Award, given to the player “who exemplifies what it means to be a Bengal basketball player,” at a recent awards banquet. We mention the awards mainly because Spink played for us for three years and we are thrilled by her success.

Preps: We put this Greg Lee story in the Prep category for one simple reason. For many years, Linda Sheridan was the face of prep sports in Spokane. Not just the girls, but overall. The Shadle Park volleyball and basketball coach, who died of ALS in 2013, will be inducted into the Hooptown Hall of Fame this weekend.

Indians: Spokane’s first-half winning performance ended Thursday night, appropriately with a 9-3 victory over Eugene. Dave Nichols was at Avista Stadium and has the game coverage. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Hillsboro’s sprint to end the first half resulted in another win at Everett, 4-2, and a second-place showing in the first half standings. … Tri-City ended its first half with a 12-7 decision over visiting Vancouver.

Martial arts: Charlotte McKinley has a preview of Saturday’s Spokane Submission Series main card at the Spokane Convention Center.

Boxing: There is also a series of amateur bouts at Brick West Brewing Co. on Saturday.

Mariners: We linked the game story from Thursday above and do it again here in case you missed it. … Andres Munoz has a baseball brother in Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase. …Yesterday we linked Tom Boswell’s appreciation of Willie Mays in the Washington Post. It is available for you to read today on the S-R site. … Bryan Woo clarified some health comments he made Wednesday. … We don’t want to be the boy who cried wolf but the beasts are baying at the door of the game. If by beasts you mean overpowering pitchers. And the door is being guarding by overmatched hitters. It’s getting worse. … Reggie Jackson has always loved to talk. And he’s been good at it, mainly because like his old friend Howard Cosell, he doesn’t pull punches. He threw a few haymakers last night in Birmingham, Ala. … Teoscar Hernandez is smiling this season.

Seahawks: It is time to project the roster as we begin the long wait for training camp to begin.

Olympics: We are always impressed by the number of good stories that emerge at the trials, whether it be the swimming ones or, starting today, the track and field ones.

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• Today was the first day in a long time we didn’t wake up with the sun. But with the highs expected to hit the upper 80s this weekend, we didn’t need to. Unless we wanted to get outside before our skin began to melt. For our friends in Phoenix and Las Vegas, just kidding. Until later …