A GRIP ON SPORTS • When we first opened “Ball
Four,” Jim Bouton’s diary of his star-crossed Major League Baseball career,
we had no idea where we would be some 50 years later. Or where the Pilots, the
expansion team which Bouton featured, would be. Turns out at least one Seattle-born
baseball franchise has a chance to win the World Series this year.

•••••••

• Bouton’s
book was an eye-opener for this teenager. And most of his generation. Major
League games were actually played in bandbox like Sicks Stadium?

Ya, that’s what we took from it. Not a
two-word piece of profanity that some still use to honor the late Pilots’ manager,
Joe Schultz. And we’re pretty sure a few Mariners fans will utter if the
Brewers win this year’s World Series.

For those of you without a history
degree, Seattle’s first MLB franchise, the expansion Pilots, played one season,
1969, in the rainy city. Outdoors. Posted a 64-98 record. Went bankrupt. Were sold
to a Milwaukee auto dealer, someone named Bud Selig. And, on April Fools’ Day
in 1970, moved to the land of butter and beer. Became the Brewers.

Made the World Series in 1982 by bashing
the ball and growing mustaches that Tom Selleck envied. Actually had a bunch of
players who played in Spokane, the club’s Triple-A franchise for a short time.
Lost the series to the Cardinals in what was then considered a triumph of speed
over power.

Those were the days.

Tonight at 5 on Fox, the New Brew Crew,
remade in the image of this post-modern baseball world, start their second chance
to win the Series. Before the second Seattle franchise, the woe-begotten Mariners, even play in their first.

Pat Murphy’s team features speed – on
the base paths and on the bump – and power – mainly in 22-year-old Jackson Chuiro’s
bat and 24-year-old starter Jacob Misiorowski’s arm – and much more. They play
baseball with the same emphasis on fundamentals Murphy’s old Arizona State
teams did back when they were passing through Pullman.

Their doppelgänger opponent, the Tampa
Bay Rays, powered their way through the American League, riding Junior Caminero’s
bat (42 home runs, 101 RBIs) and an offense that will do whatever it takes to
get on, get over and get in.

And they utilize the power arm of
Spokane’s Drew Rasmussen, their ace who, after winning 16 regular season games
with a 2.67 ERA and .91 WHIP, has reached a new level in the postseason.

The Mt. Spokane grad, who dominated in winning the
ALCS’ key fifth game five days ago, yielded three earned runs in 21 innings
against the Yankees and Guardians. He’s struck out 23 and walked three. He’s
been as good as anyone in baseball, including Misiorowski, who will start
tonight for Milwaukee.

Two teams that play the game differently
than the modern, three-true-outcome powers like the Dodgers, Yankees and, if
you use the word “power” loosely, the M’s. They hit home runs only occasionally.
They strike out at a lower-than-average rate. The one “true” outcome they
embrace? They work at-bats and pitch counts, walking often.

One out of three – along with a lot more
– has been enough to get them both to the Promised Land.

• We tried to cover the rest of the weekend’s TV schedule yesterday morning. The highlights, besides the World
Series (also on Fox at 5 on Saturday)?

College football features a couple of
Top 25 matchups: No. 7 Ole Miss at No. 19 Texas (4:30 p.m., ABC) and No. 15
Houston at No. 10 Utah (7:15, ESPN).

Locally, Washington State hosts No. 21
Boise State (3 p.m., USA Network) and Idaho welcomes Southern Utah in for Homecoming
(2, SWX).

The top NFL game is Sunday night’s matchup
from Seattle (5:20, NBC), with 5-0 Kansas City in town to face the 3-3 Hawks.

If you want to catch the 15th-ranked
Zags’ exhibition opener, it’s available via streaming. The game at No. 12 Arkansas
will be carried by SEC Network+, which is available on the ESPN App if your
cable package includes the SEC Network. There is a similar path to follow for
Washington State’s 1 p.m. Sunday exhibition game at Washington. Big Ten+ has
the game.

Duke vs. Kansas three hours earlier?
That exhibition game is on ESPN.

•••

WSU: Playing
Boise State always brings up mixed memories for Cougar fans. And mixed
emotions. There have been five Washington State wins in the seven games played
previously. It’s the last of those, a spectacular 2017 triple-overtime comeback,
that causes the deepest reaction, as it was led by the late Tyler Hilinski not long
before he took his own life. This morning Greg Woods looks at all seven games. …
The game in Pullman seems to be the focus around the conference, as well as in Boise. … Are the Broncos at a financial disadvantage vis-à-vis WSU and Oregon
State? … Jon Wilner’s weekend picks are on the S-R site this morning. … John
Canzano’s are on his website. … Here is the rest of the Pac-12 schedule this
week, listed chronologically:

– San Diego State (3-4, 2-1) at Colorado
State (2-4, 0-2), (3:30 p.m., The CW): The Aztecs’ backup quarterback is ready to help his team win on the road for the first time this season.
If he has to play, he will be facing a Ram defense under new management. … San
Diego State legend Marshall Faulk revealed he’s dealing with Parkinson’s
Disease.

– Utah State (2-4, 1-1) at Texas State
(3-3, 1-1), (4:30, CBS Sports Network): No one gains more yards per game than
the Bobcats, led by running back Torrance Burgess Jr.

– Oregon State (5-2, 3-0) and Fresno
State (4-3, 1-2) have byes.

• In
basketball news, Oregon State’s women are beginning a new era, just as their
longtime conference is. That’s related. … Arizona began its exhibition season with a huge win. … The Fresno State men have made a roster subtraction. … San Diego State’s second exhibition is at home tonight against USC. … Washington is trailing in NIL funds among Big Ten programs. … We have not talked with Tommy Lloyd recently, but he sees the eligibility chaos the same way we do. The NCAA wants it. He told CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish: “So [in my opinion,] the NCAA doesn’t mind the ’chaos’ right now because it can help drive the case for them to promote the [Protect] College Sports Act, which I’m sure we need.”

•
Elsewhere in the West and the nation, Wilner takes a look at coaching hot-seat temps around the country at midseason. … Speaking of midseason, The Athletic
wonders how much has changed at this point. … In a victory for the Pac-12’s CFP chances, James Madison lost its first game last night. … Dan Lanning is all for the24-team playoff. His Ducks might need it this season to qualify considering all
the tough breaks recently. … California
had, quite possibly, the second-best returning quarterback on the West Coast.
But he no longer is the outright starter for the Bears. … Stanford plays tonight
and is pinning some of its hopes in a way to North Carolina State having travel
trouble. … Utah relies on its line to make the offense go. … Colorado is starting to rely on a new running back. … Same with Arizona. … A USC player took a big chance and ended up in L.A. … A UCLA staffer followed a similar path. … There is no easy path for Arizona State to emerge from its struggles.

Gonzaga:
We mentioned the Bulldogs’ first exhibition game above. Theo Lawson does more
than just mention it, he has a preview of it on the S-R site. A preview built
around the one Zag who felt for much of his life he would be a Razorback
someday. That is freshman big Parker Jefferson, whose parents met while playing
sports for Arkansas. … Theo has another preview which looks more at the game itself.

EWU and
Idaho: Around the Big Sky, the Saturday slate is not robust as Eastern
Washington, No. 7 Northern Arizona and No. 14 Montana have byes. Who is left? Well, Weber State is at third-ranked Montana State. … Idaho hosts Southern Utah. … Utah Tech and Cal Poly match up in SLO. … Portland State is on the road at Idaho State. … Finally, Northern Colorado is at No. 21 UC Davis. … In basketball news, Idaho State sees long-term promise in its new-look women’s roster.

Whitworth:
The Pirates, coming off a loss to Linfield, host Lewis & Clark on Saturday
(1 p.m.) at the Pine Bowl. Ethan Myers has a preview.

Preps: Lots
to get to here this morning, starting with Dave Nichols’ game story of Thursday night’s GSL game. Cheney survived the rain, lightning and Shadle Park en route
to a 54-13 win at ONE Spokane Stadium. … Before we move on, Dave also has a preview of a women’s college basketball event at St. George’s School on
Saturday and Sunday. The Northwest Crossover Classic features 12 NAIA
schools playing 12 games. … Back to football, Dave has a preview of tonight’s big GSL games. … He also has a preview of the State slowpitch softball tournaments this weekend in Yakima. … Of course we can pass along a roundup of
Thursday’s action in other sports.

Seahawks:
What is wrong with the Hawks’ offense? Bob Condotta tries to answer that question in the S-R. … Zach Charbonnet took a big step this week and may be available to help.

Mariners:
The M’s managerial search continues. Under the radar. We just a couple names
surfacing. By the way, Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt is no longer a candidate. … We
wanted to write about the World Series today. Had our thoughts in order last
night. And then opened the S-R website, only to see the boss had written a Series column. Crud. Now we had to come up with another subject. Then we opened it and
read. No crossover, except, maybe, we both mention the two participants. … Howie
Stalwick tracks the connections to the Spokane Indians for the two teams. … We
linked the other two S-R stories above. … There are more stories available of
course.

Kraken:
Seattle won against Utah last night. The outcome has folks in Salt Lake City
wondering if the Mammoth need to change goalies.

•••   

• The dog wakes up at some point during our writing
process each morning. And has an eternal need to make sure we haven’t forgotten
him overnight. The process grounds to a halt as we switch chairs and let him
share our lap. And receives his assurances – as well as pets. Then it’s back to
running down Texas State football stories. Until later …

•••

• Photos: The Spokesman-Review, Getty Images,
Tribune News Service