The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - KJR’s Softy Joins The Show Before MNF Match Up & ALCS Game 7

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

KJR’s Softy Joins The Show Before MNF Match Up & ALCS Game 7

Our next guest is a great friend of the show. He is one of the most influential sports personalities, not only in Seattle, but across the entire country. He's been on KJR Radio, the sports leader forever. He is a diehard Washington fan, a diehard All-Seattle fan, and Softie. I'm going to walk very, very softly on this because we in Houston have been through your situation. First of all, what is your current mental state? Petrified about tonight. Seahawk game is not even a fart on my radar, to be fully honest with you.

You know, I mean, this is game seven of the ALCS first time in their nearly 50-year history. The Mariners have played a game seven, and it happens to be up against the Seahawkson game tonight. You mentioned 9 p.m. Central, 7 o'clock Pacific. And on top of that, we have a crack in broadcast that is going to interrupt our show that we will be off the air for at 4 o'clock. this afternoon. So we will be off the air and not even discussing this thing, you know, within the first hours or the final hours of the game. So it's an unusual situation to be in, Matt, in Seattle, because a lot of us have kind of wondered what would ever happen if the Mariners had a game like this up against the Seahawk game. And we're kind of finding out. And I think

it's appropriate. It's appropriate for people to be gravitating towards the Mariners tonight. You know, this is, again, something that's never been done in Mariner history. You know, you think about, you know, when this current regime in Houston made that first run to the World Series and how much it captivated your town. You know, I'm curious where Texan fans were at with that. You know, how many people were even paying attention to what was happening with Texan football where the Astros made that first run, you know, a decade ago, you know, whatever it was now. So that's the situation that we are in today.

and honestly, ticket prices are kind of reflecting it. Like, you look up at like a ticket resalear, and we like to use, you know, it's venue kings.com. Quick look for them, by the way, thank you. You're welcome. Matt, 70 bucks to get in the door for tonight's Seahawk game. I mean, those are pre-season prices for tonight's Monday night game. If this game is close in the bottom of the seven, bottom of the eighth,

and the Seahawks are kicking off at five, there's going to be a lot of people that will either be on the conquest, course, watching the baseball game, or we'll stay at whatever sports bar they're at, you know, before kickoff and not go into the stadium. We had that issue, you know, nine days ago when the Mariners were in game five against the Tigers and we were at Husky Stadium doing a freaking Rutgers broadcast. We literally go on the air for a postgame show and seconds later, Jorge Polanco delivers the game-winning RBI single and the Mariners win. This is about 45 minutes technically after the Washington Rutgers game had ended,

but a thousand people stayed in the stadium to watch the baseball game, didn't want to get in the car. And the Huskies, you know, their security staff and their ushers had no choice, but to stay at the stadium and work overtime. So people can stay there and watch the baseball game. So this thing has really captivated the entire town, but after the way they played last night and the way they just didn't even show up, the lapses offensively, the lapses offensively,

the lapses on the base tas. I think a lot of people are just petrified that this is the last thing anybody wanted anything to do with, which is a game seven in Toronto. Yeah. Every time I watch the game and I had some family things because I was watching football all day long, the number of double plays last night had to be just crushing for you. Brutal, three in a row, actually. And two of them swinging at the first pitch.

Cow Raleigh, bases, juice, one out, first pitch, splitter from you, Savage, ground ball, double play. Julio Rodriguez, same thing. Groundball, double play. J.P. Crawford, at minimum, saw, at least you saw three pitches, and then he grounds into a double play, and the inning's over. I mean, it's like those opportunities where you've got a rookie on the ropes. You've got to be able to get some runs on the board right then and there,

and then they just, the defensive lapses, you know, third inning, second inning, now, whatever it is last night, it's all running together now. Julio Rodriguez can't corral a base hit in center field, goes off his glove and leads to a double. Eugenio Flares has a hard time picking up a ball and can't make a play at third base. Cal Raleigh with an error going down the line and Vlad Guerrero scores from third base

on a play that should stop right there. Matt, it was the first freaking time all year long that they had three errors in one game. And it happened last night in game six of the ALCS. So it was absolutely maddening. All right, I want you to clear something up with me because it has obviously been a big bone of contention with people in your great part

the world. Were you in the stands when George Peter got hit? Yes. Yes. I was sitting 15 rows right behind home plate. All right. Would you describe the fan base as booing or was it something else? Okay. So let me just explain something to you guys. And I cannot believe that this is not being talked about. What do people talk about when they talk about how well Blue J fans travel, especially to Seattle? Why Seattle? Why Seattle?

places. That's far. Because Vancouver is two hours away from Seattle. And there's a boatload of Blue Jay fans that live in Vancouver, Canada. So they come down for the game because Toronto is the only team Canada has, as you know, and a lot of them are in Vancouver and they gravitate to Seattle. There probably were in that game that you're talking about, Matt, maybe 7,500 Blue Jay fans in the stance. And I'm telling you, they're not, this isn't just Mariner fans. booing George Springer. This is Blue Jay fans hammering Brian Wu for hitting George Springer. So when John Schneider goes to the podium after the game, the Blue Jay manager,

and starts ripping on Mariner fans for booing George Springer, I'm like, how the hell do you know that? You got 5,000 Blue Jay fans minimum right there in front of your face between first and third that are hammering Brian Wu for hitting George Springer. He goes down to first face. He can't even walk. He's limping all over the place. So if you tell me that there were Mariner fans that were booing George Springer, I could buy that.

If you're also telling me that there were Blue J fans that were booing Brian Wu, I could freaking buy that too. But you know what, the George Springer thing obviously goes back to the Astro days. You know that. You know, all that nonsense that happened between Seattle and Houston. So a lot of that wasn't even George Springer getting booed because he got hurt. It was George Springer getting booed because he was an Astro because George Springer has been booed every Abbas series, even before he got hurt.

All right, I got you for two more minutes here. Let me get some football in. Jaguars, huge win for the Seahawks going across country winning last Sunday. I watched that game. Before that, a knockdown, drag-out, offensive firepower game between the Hawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. First of all, a thought or two about Sam Darnel wearing the gear? I don't think you missed Geno Smith, frankly, after what he did yesterday.

Generally speaking, how confident are you? about tonight's Seattle performance against the Texans? I mean, here's the problem with Mike McDonald, Matt. Pete Carroll was known for winning games in prime time, especially at home. Mike McDonald's 4 and 8 at Lumen Field, and he's 10 and 1 on the road since he took over as the Seahawks head coach. So Mike McDonald really has to kind of figure it out at home because it's been kind of a disaster in these home games for him, so that's number one.

And then number two, I mean, look, I think the Seahawks are a way better football team. with Sam Darnold, then they would have been with Gino Smith. I mean, like you said, the numbers obviously bear that out, you know, and you give John Schneider, who happens to be the name of the Seagoff GM and not just the Blue Jays manager, you give John Schleider credit because this is the second consecutive time where he has jumped off the quarterback wagon at the exact right time. Gets rid of Russell Wilson at the exact right time, signs that massive deal with Denver, and then he falls apart.

Now he jumps off the Gino wagon. He signs a big deal. with the Raiders, and he's falling apart, right? So they've really played this perfectly, I think, the last couple of go-rounds with this quarterback situation. Sam Darnold, I'm telling you, man, if not for Baker-Mayfield, would probably be in the MVP conversation. He's not going to win it, but is he top five, is he top seven? I think he is. His numbers are marvelous. He's ridiculous right now. He's not making mistakes. And you can argue that they're actually a fumble away from being maybe five-and-one after that nine-er loss at home about a month ago. So look, man, they're in a good spot.

is coming back tonight off the injury update. Tarik Woll in their corner should play. Devin Witherspoon should play as well. Their best backup offensive lineman, Josh Jones, and their safety, Julian Love should also play in this game tonight. But I think this is a football game. The Seahawks if they're healthy should win. Jackson Smith and Jigma have a chance to be the second greatest

wide receiver ever in Seahawk history. Yes or no? Yes, he does. He does. He's got a chance to be maybe the greatest single season, Seahawk wide receiver year. in history. I mean, there's nobody else getting a ball, right? I mean, nobody else is getting the ball besides Jackson Smith & Jigman. You know, Cooper Cuff is an old man. Not as old as

us, but he's an old man, and he's doing what he can, but there's really no other option. And even if they do have Cooper Cuff, it's the rookie Torrey Horton from Nevada, who's their third option. So Jackson Smith and Jigma is averaging about 17 yards of catch right now. And he has really been the absolute security blanket for Sam Darnold. And it's amazing to see because every single week teams try and take him away and they can't do it for whatever reason they can't do it and we're not just talking about you know a slot receiver we're talking about a guy who lines up on the outside as an ex-receiver he'll go downtown he'll go to the post he'll run drag routes he'll run he'll run slants he's all over the field this guy so it's amazing to me how with how little they have behind him

at wide receiver this guy is able to put up the numbers he's putting up all right how you're taking the edge off between now and the first pitch what you doing? A bottle of Pendleton whiskey is already halfway gone, and that started at 5 a.m. this morning. That feels fair. We'll talk down the road, my friend. Thank you. You tell me. What do you do? Never been in this position before. Let me tell you what's going to happen, okay? And you don't want to hear this. The Seahawks are going to beat the Texans. I don't even know who the Cracken are playing, so I can't get to that. I think Toronto's winning tonight. I think when you could

not finish it off in Seattle, that was the fate of complete. But I could be wrong. Hell, you won two games there before. I actually would feel worse if you told me the Mariners were going to win the game tonight, so thank you for that. And I can do for you, friend. Talk to you soon. Thank you. The one and only. Softie. KJ.R. Seattle, our hero, our friend. If the Astros are playing at Game 7

on the Royal American League Championship, are you a half bottle into whiskey? Just throwing it out there.