Mariners Moose Tracks, 6/27/21: Mike Soroka, baby Gonzales, and The Crawsover

Hello everyone! We’ve made it to Friday! The M’s will be back in action today after taking tomorrow off, so let’s get you all caught up on what you need to know from the baseball world.

In Mariners news...

• Best wishes to Marco and Monica Gonzales, who are imminently expecting the birth of their first child, with Marco back in Seattle at the moment.
• The Mariners will play a doubleheader today, weather permitting, resuming Saturday’s game in the bottom of the third inning at 11:10 AM PST and playing a full nine, followed by just seven innings in game two.
• Congratulations to the Dominican Republic, which defeated Venezuela 8-5 yesterday to secure a spot in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo! Julio Rodríguez will join the club once more at that time, and starred with his bat throughout the qualifiers, as well as with the glove yesterday.

Around the league...

• Atlanta Braves righty Mike Soroka can’t catch a break, and has unfortunately retorn his Achilles tendon, and will be out for another 12 months.

• Texas Rangers slugger Willie Calhoun broke his left arm yesterday and will miss a chunk of time.
• The Arizona Diamondbacks continue to spiral, as Ketel Marte’s struggles with health continue, seemingly re-aggravating his injured hamstring and leaving last night’s game early.
• An inability to play due safely within health and safety protocols unfortunately knocked NC State University out of the College World Series.
• Per Dan Connolly of The Athletic, Baltimore Orioles 1B Trey Mancini has been invited to the Home Run Derby and will be a participant.
• Giants utilityman Tommy La Stella has a fractured thumb.
• This is a new one for me.

John’s Picks...

• The Crawsover is back! With the Storm off to a magnificent 12-3 start and the NBA playoffs approaching their crescendo, it’s a good time to be a multi-sport fan in Seattle. The Crawsover, for the uninitiated, is a Pro-Am summer/offseason basketball league organized by Seattle hoops legend, Rainier Beach HS alum, and 20-year NBA stalwart Jamal Crawford. Despite the departure of the SuperSonics, the Pro-Am (the league’s rosters are a mixture of professionals and amateurs) has been an integral part of the rich hoops history of the PNW. Games will be at Seattle Pacific University.

• It’s, uh, a hot one