Mariners Game Preview #68: CWS at SEA

The Mariners start a long four-game set with the White Sox

After riding the struggle bus in Kansas City, the Mariners return home to face the White Sox, a much less fearsome lineup than the Royals. However, the White Sox do lay claim to some strong pitching, and the Mariners will get a few challenges in that area in this series, starting with tonight: a resurgent Erick Fedde, Chicago’s de facto staff ace, will take the mound for the White Sox. Fedde is a very likely trade candidate for a team that needs rotation help (like, say, the Houston Astros), so the Mariners could consider this a preview of things to come. For more on Fedde’s resurgence, check out today’s series preview.

Lineups:

Tonight’s White Sox lineup is studded with names you’ll recognize as being prospects in other organizations: Corey Julks and Korey Lee were both Astros prospects, Nicky Lopez was a Royals prospect, and Zach DeLoach was a Mariners prospect and second-round pick in 2020.

The Mariners had a last-minute lineup change, with Dylan Moore heading to the paternity list.

Today’s game information:

Game time: 6:40 PT

TV: ROOT Sports NW, with Dave Sims and Mike Blowers

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, with Rick Rizzs and Aaron Goldsmith

Programming notes: if you’re interested in going to any of the games against the Rangers this weekend (Father’s Day), the Mariners say tickets are going quickly for the weekend, and only a few thousand remain for Sunday. If you can swing a little midweek baseball, this entire White Sox series is value games, so maybe take Dad out to the ballpark during the week if you’re able and save some cash. Tuesday is Star Wars Night, and Wednesday is Buhner Buzz Night and Pride Night T-Shirt night. Also, be aware that Friday’s game is on Apple TV, and Saturday’s is on FOX, so no ROOT broadcasts for those games.

Today in Mariners history:

• 1992: The baseball owners vote to approve the sale of the Seattle franchise from Jeff Smulyan to the Baseball Club of Seattle, L.P.
• 1994: The game in the Kingdome vs. Oakland is delayed 20 minutes by a power outage. When play is resumed, the A’s snap Randy Johnson’s string of 29 consecutive scoreless innings with back-to-back doubles by Rickey Henderson and Stan Javier.
• 2002: So Taguchi and Ichiro Suzuki took the field, marking the first time two Japanese position players played in a major league game.