Current State of Seattle Sports - March 2010

The Current State of Seattle Sports
March 19, 2010

As we all know, Seattle sports teams have failed to bring us many championships. The Seahawks and Mariners have each brought us none, the Huskies only have a few here and there (mainly in women’s and non major sports) and the Storm have one.

The Huskies

For the sake of this post, I will only talk about sports that involve a ball (baseball, football, basketball, softball). Currently, the Huskies basketball team is still in the NCAA tournament, earning their first tournament win over Marquette. However, they face New Mexico next, a daunting task since New Mexico has the #8 RPI in the country. I don’t see the Huskies getting too far, so this will be another good, but not great year.

As for Huskies baseball and softball, it’s kind of a tale of two stories. The Huskies baseball team has only been average at best since Tim Lincecum entered the MLB draft. I don’t expect any championships from them either anytime soon. The Huskies softball team, however, gave us a national title this year, and with the return of ace Danielle Lawrie, the team could repeat as national champs. However, it always seems like only women in this state can win national championships, which hey, we’ll take, but we’d like it if the most watched of sports (baseball and football) we could get a championship in.

The Huskies Football team is going to be heading into one of their most promising seasons in quite some time. Second year head coach Steve Sarkisian seems to be a great coach and is molding Senior quarterback Jake Locker into a great quarterback. Speaking of Locker, he is not only expected to be the Pac-10 player of the year, but also a contendor for the Heismann Trophy, something a Husky has never had. The Huskies will be an improved team and hopefully will get a decent bowl appearance and win. I don’t expect them to contend for the national title, but I do expect them to crack the top 25 in the BCS ratings more than once.

The Storm

The Storm have been good, but not great these past couple years. They’ve made the playoffs, but have usually been a first-round exit. Plus, with stars Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird aging and a vew years away from retirement each, our window of opportunity for a championship is closing.

The Seahawks

Probably the team in the worst shape in Seattle is the Seahawks. Coming off one of the most disappointing seasons in team history, the team fired Jim Mora and Tim Ruskell and hired Pete Carroll and John Schneider. No one expects them to contend next season, but there still is the draft and free agency is still occurring. The team recently acquired Charlie Whitehurst, much to the dismay of Seahawks fans because of what we had to give up. However, the Seahawks front office and coaching staff predict him to the be the quarterback of the future, so time will tell.

Other questionable moves have been trading Darryl Tapp to the Eagles for Chris Clemons, trading Seneca Wallace to the Browns for only a future 7^th round pick, and letting Nate Burleson go in free agency. This team will look very different come September, but that is to be expected as their last season was a huge disappointment.

I expect the Seahawks to struggle, trying to determine which players are building blocks to the future and which players need to be let go. I don’t expect any better than a 7-9 record. The Seahawks passing attack will be limited with the aging Hasselbeck and loss of Burleson. The Seahawks rushing will not be any better unless they manage to acquire an offensive lineman and a running back in the draft, trade, or via free agency. The defense again will be so-so, but the offense will be one of the worst in the league.

Mariners

The Seattle Mariners have high hopes for their 2010 season. Newly acquired Cliff Lee, Chone Figgins, Casey Kotchman, and Milton Bradley hope to improve this team upon its surprising 2009 season. The Mariners will have one of the best 1-2 punches in the majors with Felix and Lee atop it. Their bullpen also expects to be strong, led by closer David Aardsma.

However, a main concern for this team is their offense. This team will have one of the better team averages in the league, but the main concern is the lack of power. No one on this team is expected to hit 30 home runs or more. In fact, only a few bats (Lopez, Bradley) are expected to even reach 20. And some experts are predicting we will drop off this season from last year, because last year, despite the winning record, the Mariners allowed more runs than they scored, and trends show that teams the following year tend to not have the same amount of luck. It’s like flipping a coin ten times and getting 7 heads. You’re bound to get a few more tails in the next ten, more than likely.

My expectations are that I at least expect this team to compete. I expect the Mariners to be in the playoff hunt at least until late August and more than likely into September. Without a power bat, I do expect this team to struggle at times, and they will be lucky to make the playoffs. I predict we will have a season similar to 2002 and 2003, where we will just miss the playoffs. That does give the front office and general manager Jack Zduriencik something to look for in the offseason, however: a power bat. If the Mariners can do that next offseason, I expect real contention in 2011.

So there you have it. Out of 7 teams, only 2 are expected to not make the playoffs their upcoming season, but only one (Huskies softball) has a legitimate shot at a national championship. Let’s all hope for the best, here in 2010.