Mariners Game #2 Preview: Athletics at Seattle

Luis Castillo takes the mound in the second game of the 2025 season

Today I heard someone who theoretically went to better schools than I use the phrase “another thing coming,” as in “if you think [x], you’ve got another thing coming.” I’ve always known that phrase to be “another think coming,” Judas Priest aside, and Merriam-Webster seems to agree, although it posits think/thing can be considered an “eggcorn,” a linguistically plausible spelling for a word you’ve never seen (“eggcorn” is a plausible spelling of “acorn” if you’ve never seen the word, but have seen an acorn, which does in fact look sort of ovoid). Another example would be “for all intensive purposes.” Do you have any particular eggcorns that you’ve heard before?

Tonight Luis Castillo makes his first start of the season, and if you wanted to eggcorn this into being a second Opening Day, you could. The major difference in today’s game is Cal Raleigh, fresh off his contract extension press conference, moves to DH, allowing Mitch Garver to slide behind the dish and catch La Piedra. With a lefty on the mound for the A’s, the Mariners are deploying their rightiest-hitting lineup, plugging in Donovan Solano at first, Dylan Moore at second, and keeping Jorge Polanco because that’s what switch hitting do, baby, We’ll get a chance to see if Polanco’s improved knee health helps him out as much from the right side as it does the left.

Lineups:

And here’s how the A’s line up behind lefty starter Jeffrey Springs, one of the A’s big off-season acquisitions this year. Springs made seven starts last season after recovering from TJ surgery, and could be poised for a big breakout season after having a strong start to his career pre-TJ with the Rays.

News:

Dan Wilson reports that Logan Gilbert is fine after being struck by a comebacker in last night’s game, and the team doesn’t have any long-term concerns about the injury. That doesn’t mean it’s not painful, however. “It’s colorful, let’s say that,” deadpanned Wilson.

Game information:

Game time: 6:40 PT

TV: ROOT Sports NW, with Aaron Goldsmith and Ryan Rowland-Smith

Tonight’s game is also the free game on MLB TV, if you’re out of area.

If you’re not out of area, you can also stream the ROOT broadcast with their new direct-to-consumer app. More details here.

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports with Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr.

Captain’s Report:

On last night’s offensive performance, Dan Wilson said:

“It’s one thing to want to come back; it’s another thing to be able to do the things that you need to do to come back. And I think the at-bats looked really good towards the end. Like we talked about Cal’s at-bat being a little more lengthy, and then Randy getting the home run right after that. Some of those things that you see that are maybe a little more hidden, but show you that they’re a little bit further along than they have been in the past, and that’s a really good sign. That’s the hope, that we’re a little bit further along and ready to compete and be consistent. That’s been the goal since the beginning, to hit the ground running.”

Today in Mariners history:

• 2012: The Mariners defeated the Oakland A’s 3-1 in 11 innings in the 2012 season opener at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. Dustin Ackley went 2-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBI to be named game MVP. Ichiro went 4-for-5, tying the Mariners Opening Day single-game hits record (with Ken Griffey Jr. – 1990) and set the all-time hits record in club history on Opening Day (17).
• 2024: Seattle’s Opening Day tilt with the Boston Red Sox at T-Mobile Park includes Dylan Moore hitting a pinch-hit, 2-run homer. Moore becomes the second Mariners player to hit a pinch-hit HR on Opening Day, joining Roberto Petagine on April 3, 2006.