Sports
Olney: How the Mariners’ plan unraveled in Game 4 — and what it means for Game 5
SEATTLE — Luis Castillo‘s smile was small and tight as he heard Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson tell him on the mound that he was being replaced. It was the third inning of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, with the Mariners trying to hold off the Toronto Blue Jays, who had already won one game on the Mariners’ home field. Castillo, who had thrown fewer pitches than he had in any of his 247 starts in the major leagues, nodded in assent — if not agreement — and handed the ball to his manager.
What happened before Wilson’s decision was bad; what occurred after was worse. The Mariners’ relievers failed to contain the Toronto offense, in an 8-2 loss, and with the series tied at two games apiece, Seattle will go into Game 5 with its pitching options even more complicated by how Wilson’s choices played out.
Every postseason decision is evaluated through the prism of the result, which is not always fair but is October reality.
“You make decisions,” Wilson said after the game, “and you have to live with them.”
What the Mariners’ staff had talked about going into Game 4, Wilson explained, was that Seattle wanted to be aggressive in going to the bullpen. When Toronto blew out the Mariners in Game 3, Wilson was able to hold back all of his best relievers: Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andres Munoz. Additionally, Bryan Woo — who had been Seattle’s best pitcher before getting hurt Sept. 20 — would be available out of the bullpen, if Wilson found a suitable opportunity.
Castillo is a three-time All-Star, the most accomplished of the Mariners’ vaunted rotation of starting pitchers, known for his sturdy reliability. He has also had a year of diminished stuff, with his swing-and-miss rate the lowest of his career; Toronto had scored eight runs in 10 innings against him during the regular season.
In the first two innings Thursday, Castillo threw crisply, attacking the strike zone with a fastball that reached 95 mph. But in the third inning, everything changed. Isiah Kiner-Falefa pulled a double down the third-base line, and with a 3-2 count, Andres Gimenez pulled a slider into the right-field stands, giving the Jays a 2-1 lead. Relievers began stirring in the Seattle bullpen, and as Nathan Lukes and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled, Speier quickly warmed up. Too many pitches in the middle, Cal Raleigh would say later.
Alejandro Kirk drew a walk to load the bases. Wilson’s options in that moment: stick with Castillo, or summon Speier, a lefty, to face left-handed hitting Daulton Varsho.
Wilson emerged from the dugout and didn’t immediately signal to the bullpen; rather, he spoke to Castillo, telling him he was intending to call on Speier. Castillo had thrown only 48 pitches, the fewest in his nine-year career. He returned to the dugout and watched the rest of the inning play out from the top step.
“It’s a tough decision,” Wilson said, “and it was not an easy one to tell him. But that’s what we went with.”
Varsho fell behind 1-2 in the count, but he fouled off two pitches and worked the count full before drawing a walk. Toronto’s lead was 3-1. Speier struck out the next two hitters to avoid further trouble, and Castillo met him with a high-five as he stepped into the dugout.
In the next inning, Speier pitched himself into trouble again. After a Kiner-Falefa single and a sacrifice bunt, right-handed hitting George Springer batted next.
Wilson had three options in that moment:
He could have summoned Brash, his best set-up man, to face Springer. He could have effectively compelled Speier to pitch around Springer. Or, with the left-handed hitting Lukes on deck and Guerrero set to follow, he could allow Speier to face Springer.
Wilson went with the third option, and Springer ripped a double into the left-field corner, extending the Jays’ lead to 4-1. By the time Lukes grounded out, Speier — the best left-handed option in the Seattle bullpen — had thrown 32 pitches, more than any outing in his career.
Wilson summoned Brash into the game with the Mariners down by three runs — probably not the situation the manager envisioned at a time when his team was leading the series. Seattle’s bullpen had to cover 20 outs Thursday.
Bryce Miller starts Friday, in the Mariners’ final chance to win a championship series game in front of their home crowd. This series is guaranteed to return to Toronto — but whether it does with a Seattle lead is up to Miller and a bullpen that was used heavily in Thursday’s loss.
“We did use bullpen guys tonight, but they were very well rested again,” Wilson said. “So I think that we’re still in good shape in terms of our bullpen and also, we have Bryan down there as well, and we’ll utilize him when the time is right.”
It is unclear how Castillo felt about all of this. In his time with the Mariners, he has been known for consistently sticking around to answer questions after his starts, good or bad. But by the time reporters were permitted into the Mariners’ clubhouse after Game 4, Castillo was gone.
Liverpool have completed the signing of North Carolina Courage captain and Republic of Ireland international Denise O’Sullivan, the clubs announced Saturday.
The 31-year-old midfielder departs as the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) club’s all-time appearance leader after playing in 186 games during her nine seasons in North Carolina.
O’Sullivan now joins a Liverpool team that sits bottom of the Women’s Super League (WSL), without a win in 12 matches.
“It means a lot. It’s a very proud moment for myself and also for my family, who are now only a 40-minute flight away,” O Sullivan told Liverpool’s website.
“Liverpool is a massive club and I think when you join a club as big as Liverpool it comes with massive responsibility and I can’t wait to get to work and to give 100 per cent every day.”
After joining North Carolina in its inaugural NWSL season, O’Sullivan played a part in winning seven league trophies — three Shields, two Championships and two Challenge Cups.
She had been named captain ahead of the 2023 season.
“It’s hard to put into words what this club has truly meant to me,” O’Sullivan said in a statement from the Courage. “North Carolina will always be my home, and I’m forever grateful to the Club, my teammates, and the incredible fans who supported and believed in me every step of the way,”
“I’m on to a new challenge now, but I’ll always be a part of Courage Country. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything.”
The arrival of O’Sullivan, who has won 128 caps with Ireland, comes a day after Liverpool announced the loan signing of Martha Thomas from Tottenham.
The Scotland international, who joined Spurs from Manchester United in 2023, has agreed to move to Liverpool for the remainder of the season.
PA contributed to this report.
After delivering a sweeping indictment that led to the arrest of 26 individuals and busted open a college basketball point-shaving scheme that tainted dozens of games over the past two seasons, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf delivered some perspective.
“There has been a spate of these gambling cases recently,” Metcalf said. “I will say that the evidence in this case shows that the monetization of college athletics, through the liberalization and proliferation of sports betting markets, as well as the normalization of compensation in athletics, furthered the enterprise …
“But it’s complicated, right?” Metcalf continued. “As we allege in the indictment, certain players were targeted because they were somewhat missing out on NIL money and they were being targeted so they could supplement their NIL compensation.
“Whether or not they would have done or not done a particular crime based on whether other athletes were being paid, I don’t know.”
Metcalf and his colleagues out of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, not to mention the FBI, appear to have done stellar work here.
Each defendant is presumed innocent in a court of law, but anyone from the court of public opinion who reads the 70-page indictment would likely concede that evidence of malfeasance is strong.
Too many participants to maintain a conspiracy, too much money wagered on obscure games to remain under the radar and way, way too many incriminating text messages.
Some of the athletes might have had their priorities warped by legalized sports wagering and the fact that college athletes can cash in on big bucks these days through name, image and likeness.
As Metcalf smartly noted, though, it’s complicated.
And not an excuse.
If what the indictment alleges is true, then every athlete involved deliberately violated well-known laws, instinctual competitive concepts and the core bonds of team play that are present from D-I basketball down to a random 2-on-2 game at the park.
You don’t need to receive the extensive education that the NCAA provides, lectures from coaches or posters in the locker room to know what’s right and what’s wrong here.
No one should try to cry that they are a victim of a changing society. The proliferation of gambling apps or the fact that some kid at Duke or Kentucky is making millions doesn’t justify bricking a bunch of shots in the first half for a kickback.
NIL gets blamed for nearly everything in college sports these days. Can we spare it from this at least?
This is about personal accountability. This is about consciously choosing alleged criminal behavior.
That’s it.
While it is likely easier to rope in a player who doesn’t have a lucrative NIL deal, recent gambling scandals have caught up NBA and MLB players making millions as well.
That’s just society — there are more than a few doctors and lawyers and Wall Street types shuffling around the prison yard.
And yes, legalized sports wagering is prevalent these days, in your face everywhere you turn, including on ESPN.
So what?
Whether legalized betting is helping or hurting here is, in Metcalf’s terms, complicated.
The increased outlets for placing bets certainly help central figures such as Shane Hennen or Marves Fairley to allegedly wager major sums on minor games — such as $458,000 across multiple sportsbooks on a 2024 Towson-North Carolina A&T contest.
In the old days, you had to walk into a Las Vegas sportsbook to make that bet. It would have been immediately rejected. Whatever amount would have been allowed, probably wouldn’t have been worth rigging the outcome.
That said, the ever-increasing integrity efforts of sportsbooks, not to mention sophisticated state and federal regulators, no doubt played a role in flagging these schemes and then leading authorities to the charges.
Point shaving isn’t new. It was just traditionally done by organized crime to impact illegal, underground betting. That operated largely in the dark, with no protections and few prosecutions.
Legalized betting may have made these schemes easier to pull off, but also easier to bust. It, in turn, should serve as a cautionary tale.
This case isn’t about legalized sports wagering or NIL deals.
It’s about, per the feds’ narrative, a clumsy group of game-fixers convincing individual players to selfishly betray their common sense, their education on existing laws, their teammates, coaches and parents and a dream opportunity to play scholarship basketball in an effort to make a quick extra buck.
They screwed up a great deal to chase a bad one.
That part isn’t complicated.
LIVERPOOL, England — Arne Slot said he “completely understands” the frustration of the Liverpool fans who booed the team following Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Burnley in the Premier League.
Florian Wirtz gave the hosts the lead at Anfield before Marcus Edwards levelled the scoring in the second half.
The result means Liverpool have now failed to beat any of the league’s three newly promoted sides at Anfield this term, with just one win in their last four league games. While they remain fourth in the table, they are now just one point above fifth-placed Manchester United.
“Yeah, in my head it wasn’t booing but in my head it was frustration as well,” Slot said when asked about the reaction of the Anfield crowd.
“So if we are Liverpool and we play against Burnley, who we have to give credit to for defending, clearing balls off the line, all the things you want to see if you are the Burnley manager, trying everything to prevent us scoring.
“But if you, as Liverpool, are not disappointed by having a draw at home to Burnley, then something is completely wrong. I completely understand the frustration. I have the same frustrations, and the players definitely have the same frustrations, as the fans.”
Saturday’s result was the third time Liverpool have dropped points from winning positions in the Premier League this season. It came despite Slot’s side registering 32 shots at goal, including 11 on target, and an expected goals (xG) total of 2.95 — their highest in the league this season.
Liverpool also had 73% of possession against a Burnley side languishing in 19th position with just 14 points from 22 games.
Slot added: “It’s not for the first time, it is usually frustrating. They come in different fashions. Sometimes it is that we are scoring a goal in stoppage time and you expect to win the game and then you concede another goal in stoppage time.
“I think these games we have played quite a lot [nine in 19 from September to November] — where we are the team creating more than the team we face — but then we were losing those games.
“Then we have started to become a team that was a bit more careful in conceding chances, and that led to the fact that it made it also more difficult to create a lot.
“As a result of that, we have been in a lot of games where we haven’t lost, and I think today was a game where I liked seeing us have even more possession than we would usually have, generating a lot of chances, and usually that comes with, if you take more risk, it comes with the other team counterattacking you, but we controlled that really well.”
Information from ESPN Research was used in this report.
Liverpool sign North Carolina Courage legend Denise O’Sullivan
Kourtney Kardashian recalls a journey that took three years
Wetzel: Don’t blame hoops scandal on changing society. It’s just clumsy greed.
-
Tech5 days agoNew Proposed Legislation Would Let Self-Driving Cars Operate in New York State
-
Sports1 week agoClock is ticking for Frank at Spurs, with dwindling evidence he deserves extra time
-
Sports1 week ago
Commanders go young, promote David Blough to be offensive coordinator
-
Entertainment4 days agoX (formerly Twitter) recovers after brief global outage affects thousands
-
Fashion7 days agoSouth India cotton yarn gains but market unease over US tariff fears
-
Fashion7 days agoChina’s central bank conducts $157-bn outright reverse repo operation
-
Business1 week agoSoftBank reduces Ola Electric stake to 13.5% from 15.6% – The Times of India
-
Sports7 days agoUS figure skating power couple makes history with record breaking seventh national championship