Seattle’s pro soccer teams—the Seattle Sounders FC and the Seattle Reign FC—will be on break during the World Cup, but that doesn’t mean you can’t catch some extra live soccer while you’re in town. We have a burgeoning pre-professional league! Plus, Rain City Soccer, a recreational queer soccer league, kicks off its Pride Season in June, with matches every Friday night at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill. The games are casual and free to watch, and the park is surrounded by tons of places to eat. Grab a bag of Dicks and have yourself a picnic! Or get a drink at one of our favorite bars, like the Gemini Room, the Doctor’s Office, or Linda’s. Life on Mars has great mocktails, too, and they’ll be showing all the World Cup games on the 85-inch screen in their vinyl room. Their whole menu is vegan—get the cauliflower wings! Oh, shit, sorry, this sports section is turning into food recommendations. Can you tell we’re not jocks? Anyway, read on for even more ball-flying fun.
Salmon Bay FC and Ballard FC
Ballard
Salmon Bay FC is one of 27 brand-new teams playing in USL W, a burgeoning pre-professional women’s soccer league now featuring 93 clubs spanning the continental US. Partially owned by Rough & Tumble’s Jen Barnes, as well as Seattle Reign players Lu Barnes, Jess Fishlock, and Olivia Van der Jagt. Salmon Bay is the sibling team to Ballard FC, the men’s club that’s enjoyed a die-hard following since its kickoff in 2022. Both teams are buoyed by fierce neighborhood-level pride, top-tier talent, and silly rituals. The spirits are high and flowing: There’s a tequila zone. You can order a hot dog with lingonberry jam on it. How Svensk. Witness the next generation of hometown stars in wholesome environs before they enter the Lumen Field limelight in a few years. ADAM WILLEMS
Seattle Storm
Seattle Center
The Seattle SuperSonics left Seattle for Oklahoma City in 2008, and longtime Seattleites are still pissed about it. Rightfully so, if you ask me—it was a dirty, sneaky deal! But real basketball fans know Seattle is still a basketball city. The WNBA founded the Seattle Storm in 2000, and the team has qualified for the playoffs 19 times in its 25 seasons. They’ve won four WNBA championships, the most recent being in 2020. When Storm star Sue Bird retired in 2023, they retired her number (10) and hung her jersey in the rafters of Climate Pledge. And now, these players are finally getting paid their worth. In March, the WNBA and the league’s Players Association avoided a 2026 season strike by agreeing to an impressive new contract. Not only did they increase each team’s salary cap from $1.5 million to $7 million, but the average player’s salary will now be around $600,000, compared to last year’s $120,000. MEGAN SELING
Seattle Mariners
SoDo
There are currently 30 baseball teams in the MLB, and 29 of them have made it to the World Series at least once. The one holdout? The Seattle fucking Mariners. And yet, every summer, dedicated fans flock to T-Mobile Park to see if this year will be our year. Last season, we got close! Closer than ever before, in fact. And yet… Thankfully, the Mariners know their baseball shenanigans won’t always be enough to keep the people entertained, so they’ve taken to hyping up the crowd with especially goofy park promotions, including Bark at the Park (bring your dogs!) and Hot Dogs from Heaven, when hot dogs tied to parachutes rain down on the crowd. They even come with ketchup! You’ll know the wieners are about to fly when Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” starts blasting from the speakers. MEGAN SELING
DubSea Fish Sticks
West Seattle
Or you can just forget the Mariners altogether. This summer, you should go to a DubSea Fish Sticks game. Get your ass out to White Center to Mel Olson Stadium inside King County’s Steve Cox Memorial Park and watch the Fish Sticks, a team of collegiate ballplayers staying in shape in their off-season. For the purposes of the Fish Sticks, the stadium is dubbed “The Fryer.” These games are full of kitsch and whimsy. Instead of the first pitch, there’s a first fish (yes, someone throws a fish). In between innings, the Fish Sticks put on weird activities like inflatable mascot races, sing-alongs, and something called “Fish Sticks on the Face.” You better believe team mascot Fin Crispy Jr. is heavily involved. It’s a good, goofy time. And it’s cheap. Tickets cost $14. On certain Thursdays, all concessions are $3. Yes, even the fish sticks. Who needs the Savannah Bananas when we’ve got the DubSea Fish Sticks? Catch them in the Fryer June through the first week of August. NATHALIE GRAHAM