Sports

Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais says “a couple players" won’t make the trip for the three-game series that starts Monday at Toronto because of the Canadian government’s vaccine mandate. Speaking before a series finale in New York, Servais did not identify which players will be unavailable. Canada requires anyone entering the country to have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, the second at least 14 days before entry. Left-hander Roenis Elías was in the clubhouse at Citi Field, and Servais said the 33-year-old likely will be added to the active roster by Monday. He last appeared in the major leagues with Washington in 2019.

Tom Brady will join Fox Sports as a football announcer when his playing career ends. That announcement was made Tuesday by Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch on an investor call. Brady had announced his retirement at the end of last season, but later renounced it and said he was going to play at least another season as the Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback. Signing the seven-time Super Bowl champion was a coup for Fox after its top football announcing team, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, recently left for ESPN. Murdoch says it's up to Brady when he decides to retire.

Rich Strike came charging up the rail to overtake the leaders in the closing strides for a stunning 80-1 upset in the Kentucky Derby. Jockey Sonny Leon guided Rich Strike from well back in the 20-horse field to beat 4-1 favorite Epicenter by three-quarters of a length. Zandon was another three-quarters of a length back in third on Saturday at Churchill Downs. Rich Strike wasn’t even in the Derby field until Friday when Ethereal Road was scratched, making room for the colt trained by Eric Reed. Both Leon and Reed were in their first Derby.

The Seattle Storm spent the 2020 WNBA season playing in a bubble due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they spent the 2019 and 2021 seasons bouncing between venues in the Puget Sound region while their arena was rebuilt. The nomadic existence robbed them of the element that made coming to Seattle one of the more challenging road trips for opponents. That changes Friday night when the Storm open the WNBA season against Minnesota. They’re back in the heart of the city, making their regular-season debut at Climate Pledge Arena.

The Seattle Kraken's first season ended up looking like nearly every other NHL expansion season from the past 30 years. The comparisons with the last expansion team , the Golden Knights, were inevitable and the high bar set by Vegas in its first season almost ensured Seattle’s first outing was going be disappointing at some level. Goalkeeping was poor early, the defense was leaky at times and scoring was up and down. The Kraken were regularly competitive and only rarely overmatched. But it took the better part of three months for Seattle to successfully execute coach Dave Hakstol’s system on a consistent basis.  

The first regular-season NFL game in Germany will be between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks at the home of soccer club Bayern Munich. The NFL says the game will take place at the Allianz Arena on Nov. 13. Frankfurt will also be staging a regular-season game in Germany during the next four years. The schedule for the three NFL games in London next season has also been announced. The Green Bay Packers will become the final team to play in Europe when they take on the New York Giants on Oct. 9 at the home of Premier League soccer team Tottenham.

Adam Frazier and the Seattle Mariners argued the first of this year’s delayed salary arbitration cases, with the second baseman/outfielder asking for a raise from $4.3 million to $8 million and the team arguing for $6.7 million. Arbitrators Margaret Brogan, Frederic Horowitz and Brian Keller heard the case virtually. Frazier is batting .250 with no homers and 11 RBIs this season, though no statistics from 2022 are admissible in this year’s arbitration cases under the March agreement between Major League Baseball and the players’ association that ended the lockout.

The Seattle Seahawks wrapped up a straightforward draft that included nine picks and no crazy surprises. The nine selections came from just five position groups but filled a significant number of needs the Seahawks faced. On the final day, Seattle made five picks. It selected cornerbacks Coby Bryant and Tariq Woolen in the fourth and fifth rounds. Edge rusher Tyreke Smith was selected in the fifth round, too, and Seattle took two wide receivers in Bo Melton and Dareke Young in the seventh round. Those picks went along with offensive linemen Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas, running back Kenneth Walker III and edge rusher Boye Mafe taken on the first two days of the draft.