A Grip on Sports: Baseball is a timeless game that connects generations, a connection that renews and reinvents itself today
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Time begins today. It’s baseball’s Opening Day. (Or opening day if you aren’t a believer.) From this day forward, until the buds just forming on the trees have become overwhelming piles of leaves, the hours of our days are filled with a sport that has no connection to time.
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• It’s what makes baseball great, isn’t it? The way the game isn’t ruled by the clock. A clock that reigns over our lives with a sickle, cutting every bit of it into smaller and smaller segments.
Not baseball though. Not even in the most-modern of modern eras, where attention spans and finicky players forced the rulers of the game to institute a shot clock, so to speak. The outcome of each contest, even with that small intrusion, still resides in the realm of the infinite. No set finish time. (And, if you happen to be watching a game on Fox, no set start time either.)
A baseball game could be done in a blink. Or can last until the small wee hours of the morning. When you unwrap this particular box of chocolates, you really never know what you might get.
I’m not sure Mrs. Gump was a fan of the game – if she were, maybe her son Forrest would have played for the Braves instead of going to Vietnam – but I am certainly a fan of the truffles and nougats that populate the starting rotation of the region’s professional team.
Atop that list is tonight’s Opening Day starter, Logan Gilbert.
A lanky, Gary Cooper-like Floridian who stands tall on the mound, Gilbert’s laconic delivery hides a burning intensity. It’s that intensity that will deliver the Cy Young to the Northwest this fall – and yes, I am well aware I made the same pronouncement last season but as Branch Rickey may have said, it’s better to make a prediction a year early than a year late.
But Gilbert is just the start of the starters. George Kirby, who is dealing with a shoulder issue for the second time in his career, is a solid, angry Robin to Gilbert’s Batman. Or maybe that role is better suited to a member of the other dynamic duo, Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller. The Albert of the group? Luis Castillo, though only due to his age, not his demeanor.
Whether the M’s reach the promised land of October is anyone’s guess. It usually takes more than a great starting staff to ensure a coveted postseason spot. And the Seattle roster still resembles a pair of $1,000 designer jeans. The holes are glaring, sure, but will they have an impact on the future?
Today, of all days, all of us can forgot such imperfections. We can just sit and luxuriate in the start of a season that seems to stretch forever. It’s possible it will.
• In July, the baseball writer who changed how I think about the game’s timeless nature, the Washington Post’s Tom Boswell, will be inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame. Today, Boswell ascends the mound and throws out the first pitch at the National’s opener.
And, like any of us in his shoes, hopes he doesn’t embarrass himself. If he does, at least it should inspire a dense, stretching-boundaries-of-time-itself essay on the sport’s continuing relationship with his life. One I will surely read.
• Of the many choices, what is your favorite Opening Day memory?
It’s not all that hard for me to pick just one out of the probably almost 60 I can recall. Mainly because it happened in 2023, the year after the year.
Baseball has always been a tie that binds my son Ty and I, even as he’s aged from a backyard-wiffle-ball-playing 4-year-old into a man of 40. Two years ago we decided to make a pilgrimage to Seattle in late March and take in the M’s first three games.
The secondary market allowed us to purchase tickets in the front row. Just past third base. We settled in and watched Luis Castillo deal. Watched Cleveland’s Shane Bieber do the same. Inning after inning. Until the bottom of the eighth.
J.P. Crawford walked. Julio Rodriguez flew out to center. Kolton Wong leaned into a pitch. Ty France stepped to the plate. And brought what was left of the 45,268 in T-Mobile to a standing roar by driving the ball into the right-field seats.
The odd thing about that 3-0 victory? Of the nine position players the M’s used that night (Scott Servais made zero offensive substitutions), only three remain on the roster today: Crawford, Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh.
Time may begin on Opening Day but the M’s never-ending search for a World Series roster, while handicapped by self-imposed spending limits, goes on.
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WSU: When new football coach Jimmy Rodgers arrived from South Dakota State, he brought a few of his old assistants with him. One was running backs coach Robbie Rouse. On Wednesday morning, the school announced Rouse was already leaving, having resigned for “personal reasons.” Whether those reasons are related to a DUI arrest earlier this month is unknown. Greg Woods covers both developments. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Arizona’s Sweet 16 game against top-seed Duke may just be the game of the night in the NCAA tournament. And how Caleb Love plays for the Wildcats may just decide it. … Jon Wilner’s picks ran in the S-R today. … Washington is losing players who haven’t even played for it yet. … We got ahead of this news a couple days ago, sharing our, and our region’s, connection to new Colorado State head basketball coach Ali Farokhmanesh. … Colorado has lost a couple players to the portal. … Utah has hired another staffer with NBA connections. … UCLA will need a new point guard next season. … Around the women’s game, UCLA’s Lauren Betts is more than just a great basketball player. She will be in Spokane with the Bruins, with more on the NCAA regionals in the Idaho section below. … In football news, will the Mountain West keep the Pac-12 at bay? … Washington’s offensive line seems to have more depth. … Oregon’s spring practices have revealed some surprises already. … The saga of Stanford’s decision to fire Troy Taylor continues. … Where will Deion Sanders be in five years? I’m pretty sure it won’t be coaching Colorado. … Arizona State’s center anchors the Devils’ offensive line. … Speed is the watchword at Arizona this spring. … Boise State players showed their talents yesterday.
Gonzaga: Both the Zags and Washington State are still playing a women’s postseason tournament. Lisa Fortier’s team is in Minnesota tonight for a WBIT quarterfinal matchup with the Gophers. The Cougars are in Fargo for a WNIT game with North Dakota State. Greg Lee has this preview of both contests which tip at the same time, 5 p.m. … The Zag men should be active in the transfer portal, due to a handful of roster openings. Jim Meehan takes a look at what positions Mark Few’s staff will target. … It will cost Gonzaga and everyone else a lot more to attract high-end talent this season. … Elsewhere in the WCC, former USF coach Todd Golden returns to the Bay Area with Florida, ready to meet Maryland in the NCAA’s West regional. The Gators are one of the favorites to win the title.
Idaho: The women’s regionals in Spokane are being hosted by the Vandals, which explains why I have made an executive decision to put Jim Allen’s get-your-ready-for-the-high-level-action story here. It covers, and talks with, many of the people who helped Spokane become a women’s basketball destination over the years. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Sacramento State is all-in with Mike Bibby, who should help the Hornets’ national profile. … A Montana guard is leaving. … A couple Montana State freshmen are out the door. … Two Idaho State players have entered the portal as well. … Montana State’s women have lost a player. … Idaho State a couple. … In football news, Weber State is relying on its quarterbacks’ smarts.
Preps: Dave Nichols shares a roundup of Wednesday’s action.
Chiefs: Dave returns with a column on Spokane’s upcoming postseason opportunities. He believes there is more in store, including writing a legacy for this team.
Mariners: The M’s host the Sacramento Athletics tonight at 7:10 on Root. And, yes, we know the A’s would rather not have us use that designation but, hey, that’s where they are located now. Will tonight’s game kick off a playoff run? Or will Dan Wilson’s group come up short again? Raleigh supplies a conscience but Rodriguez supplies the excitement – and needs to add a bigger offensive punch. … The entire outfield is exciting, if not completely solid in fundamentals. … How deep is the roster? … Colton Clark supplies a look at local players who will populate MLB rosters this season. … The American League West is up for grabs.
Seahawks: Is John Schneider on a hot seat? How he manipulated the salary cap while signing free agents may cool it a bit.
Sounders: There is money to be made by playing in the Club World Cup.
Kraken: Being a captain includes a lot of duties but this one is new to us.
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• It seems odd baseball’s schedule today has no early games. The first one doesn’t start until just after noon here in the West. The last one? The M’s. Until later …