While breaking down Mariners, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers interrupted by cops

Mar 25, 2024, 3:05 PM | Updated: 4:46 pm

Editor, Seattle Sports

ESPN MLB reporter Jesse Rogers has a high opinion of the Seattle Mariners in 2024, which is something he joined Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy to share on Monday. But on his way to doing so, he was interrupted.

By who, exactly? Oh, the police.

Breakdown: What Mariners bring north this year is very different

Good news – Rogers didn’t get thrown in the slammer. Even better news, he had pulled over to call into the show (definitely always do that if you need to be on the phone while in your car).

In the middle of explaining what he’s learned about the story surrounding Shohei Ohtani, Rogers mentioned that a police car had pulled behind him.

“Call me back in a few minutes, I’ll let you know how this turns out,” Rogers told hosts Michael Bumpus and Stacy Rost.

What caused @JesseRogersESPN to get interrupted live on air by the police? He joined @michaelbumpus5 & @StacyRost to talk about the M's but had to jump off the phone to talk to the cops. What did he do? Watch it here & head to https://t.co/EmWfQ2y35D to hear the full interview. pic.twitter.com/So7GwbA8B4

— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) March 25, 2024

A few minutes later, Rogers reconnected.

“I pulled over to talk to you guys, and these cops pull behind me and then they come up and say my registration on my license plate’s expired, but it’s not. They just couldn’t see it,” he said. “… Anyway, it’s all good. I was like, ‘I’m parked. What are they coming after me for?'”

Chalk that up as a first for Bump and Stacy, but no harm, no foul. Now how about some baseball talk?

Why Jesse Rogers like Seattle Mariners in 2024

The Mariners are coming off an 88-74 season in 2023 that left them two games back of winning the American League West and making the playoffs. They had a busy offseason, however, adding veteran bats like Mitch Garver, Mitch Haniger and Jorge Polanco to round out the lineup that backs up a strong pitching staff.

Is that good enough to win the division? Rogers thinks so. Here’s what he told Bump and Stacy:

I just wrote something for ESPN.com that’s going to run this week that I think Seattle is going to win the division. I think that on the surface, people are going to forget that they missed out on the division by two games – because they didn’t make the playoffs at all, you sort of forgot about Seattle. But look, I think it’s not even arguable that right now they probably have the best pitching staff (in the division) because (Texas’ Max) Scherzer and (Houston’s Justin) Verlander are hurt and all that stuff. Just starting the season, they’re the best on the mound that I can think of. They’ve bolstered their bullpen a little bit with some under the radar signings, although (offseason traded addition Gregory) Santos is hurt, I know. And yeah, they didn’t spend a lot on the lineup, they never do and I know that’s a complaint up there in Seattle, but who knows? If the two Mitches can come up with career years, I mean, certainly Haniger did a couple years ago and Polanco is a sneaky good pickup.

There’s veteran experience there, there’s playoff experience there. I picked Julio Rodríguez to win the MVP, so I’m all-in on on Seattle. Three consecutive winning seasons, I think it’s time to take another step, but boy, that front office better help them in July instead of the opposite, and that remains to be seen. But I think it’s the most rounded, maybe even one of the deeper teams in the division. Now look, it is going out on the limb to say Seattle is going to win it because Houston is Houston, but I think they have a really good shot.

Hear the full Bump and Stacy conversation with ESPN MLB reporter Jesse Rogers in the podcast at this link or in the player below.