le many have speculated that would likely be the final fight of Cottos career -- he has said he is looking ahead to life after the boxing ring -- Perez said it p

SEATTLE -- The Seattle Mariners slim chances of reaching the postseason took a hit Thursday night, despite their win over Oakland, but they head into a Friday game against the As with a remaining shred of hope.Baltimores win over Toronto gave Seattle (85-74) even less room for error as the Mariners prepare to play their third-to-the-last game of the season trailing the Orioles and Blue Jays by two games in the American League wild-card race.We know we have to win, Seattle catcher Mike Zunino said Thursday night. Thats the thing. Theres only three left, and if we dont win our games now, nothing else matters.Seattle did its part Friday night, beating the As 3-2 despite a shaky ninth inning that saw Mariners closer Edwin Diaz give up three hits and a run before striking out the final two batters to wriggle out of it.Its tough, Diaz said of his ninth inning. I need to control my emotions and give the team a chance to make the playoffs. Were so close.The As (67-92) nearly staged a ninth-inning comeback even though theyre not playing for anything other than pride.It came down to situational at-bats, manager Bob Melvin said after the latest loss.Oakland will try to regroup behind Friday starter Raul Alcantara, while the Mariners will turn to 24-year-old Taijuan Walker in what could be their final meaningful game of the season.Seattle needs Toronto and/or Baltimore to lose Friday to still have a chance to win an outright wild-card berth, and the Mariners could be eliminated from playoff contention if they lose and both the Blue Jays and Orioles win. Further complicating things is a Detroit team that had a rainout Thursday and sits between Seattle and the co-leaders in the wild-card standings.The way we look at it, well play tomorrows game, and well try to win it and pray for a little help, Seattle manager Scott Servais said late Thursday night.The Mariners have their rotation lined up so that veterans Hisashi Iwakuma (Saturday) and Felix Hernandez (Sunday) will close out the season and could be on the mound for the biggest games of the season. But those two wont be a factor if Walker cant deliver on Friday night.The 24-year-old right-hander, having opened the season as the No. 2 starter in the rotation before struggling all the way to a stint in Triple-A, has pitched well over his past four starts after changing his mechanics. Hes 3-1 since getting shelled in a Sept. 3 loss to the Angels and will be on the mound for the biggest start of his young career Friday.The Mariners are also looking for more offense, particularly from the middle of their lineup. Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager went a combined 2-for-11 Thursday after carrying the team for most of the season. That group also has a chance to become Seattles first trio since Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez in 1998 to record 30 home runs and 100 RBI in the same season. Cano is three RBI shy of 100, while Seager needs to drive in one more run to hit that mark.Paul Krause Vikings Jersey . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying. Chris Doleman Jersey . Supported by three-run homers from Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos, the young right-hander went seven strong innings in the Washington Nationals 8-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. http://www.thevikingsshoponline.com/Youth-Brett-Favre-Vikings-Jersey/ . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. Paul Krause Womens Jersey . Barcelona also left injured defenders Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba out of its squad for the trip to Glasgow. That means that Marc Bartra will probably start again in the centre of the defence alongside Gerard Pique. Garrett Bradbury Womens Jersey . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers.Miguel Cotto the promoter has been busy with his promotional company signing young Puerto Rican boxing talent and making a foray into concert promoting.Cotto the future Hall of Fame boxer has been a lot less busy.At 35, Cotto is in the twilight of his career, during which he came out of the 2000 Olympics to become one of the sports biggest and most exciting stars as well as the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world titles in four weight divisions (junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight).In recent years, however, Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) has picked his spots to fight. He boxed only once in 2013 (following a 10-month layoff), once in 2014 (when he knocked out Sergio Martinez to win the middleweight crown) and twice in 2015, returning from a year layoff to stop Daniel Geale in a middleweight title defense and then losing a decision and the title to Canelo Alvarez in their huge fight in November 2015.Since then there has been much discussion about Cottos next move. He and promoter Roc Nation Sports talked at length about a fight in the second half of this year. There were negotiations with Mexican star Juan Manuel Marquez, also a four-division titleholder, for a major pay-per-view fight, but Marquez is a smaller man and they could not agree on a catch weight acceptable to both fighters.Then there were conversations with HBO about a fight with former junior welterweight titlist and welterweight contender Lamont Peterson on Dec. 3 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. But nothing was ever finalized with one issue being that the date was too close to the Nov. 19 fight Roc Nation Sports is co-promoting between its other star fighter, Andre Ward, and unified light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev.So for the first time since his 2001 pro debut, Cotto will go through a calendar year without a ring appearance.We have had several conversations with Roc Nation about where Miguel is at and what he wants to do. Everything is good but with different circumstances he decided not to fight in 2016, Bryan Perez, a Miguel Cotto Promotions executive and Cottos close friend, told ESPN. We had different conversations about fighting in December but we decided not to fight and do it in the first part of 2017, between February or March.According to Perez, Cottos next fight will be the last one of the three-fight deal he signed with Roc Nation Sports in March 2015. While many have speculated that would likely be the final fight of Cottos career -- he has said he is looking ahead to life after the boxing ring -- Perez said it probably wont be.The next fight is the last fight on the agreement we signed in 2015 but Miguel feels healthy and good and wants to continue fighting, Perez said. He has the last word and will decide what to do and what his plan will be but he says he wants to continue to fight and to explore facing the best names out there and getting the best guarantee (in terms of money). He will fight twice in 2017.Although Cotto won the middleweight titlle, he fought below the division limit of 160 in all three of his title fights (155 and 153 twice).dddddddddddd The mid-to-low 150s is where he intends to fight next.He will be comfortable fighting below 160, but whatever opportunities pop up and whatever fight is the best guarantee and benefits his career he will consider, Perez said. We will wait to see.Obviously, he is not going to go to welterweight.Perez said Peterson (34-3-1, 17 KOs), 32, of Washington, D.C., remains a possible opponent. Peterson has not fought since last October.Lamont Peterson is a former world champion, a great fighter and it would be a great fight but not a pay-per-view fight. But I think its a fight that could get done, Perez said, adding that even though Peterson is aligned with adviser Al Haymon it would not prevent a deal being made with Roc Nation Sports, which is owned by music star Jay Z, a longtime rival of Haymons.A far more intriguing bout would be against former welterweight and junior welterweight titleholder Timothy Bradley Jr. (33-2-1, 13 KOs), 33, of Palm Springs, California. Bradley has voiced interest in moving up to face Cotto.Thats one of the fights Tim would like before he is done with his career, Monica Bradley, his wife and manager told ESPN in August when he re-signed with promoter Top Rank.Said Perez: Bradley is a huge fight, a great fight to make. Its a great fight for the fans, a good style fight. Miguel is always willing to fight the best and if Bradley is there and available and we can agree on terms, we are more than happy to put them in the ring.That fight would entail Cottos camp co-promoting with Top Rank, which promoted Cotto for most of his career until he left to sign with Roc Nation Sports after saying he would never leave the company. It was a move that deeply disappointed Top Rank president Todd duBoef, who recruited Cotto out of the Olympics and grew very close to him through the years.We ended our business relationship with Top Rank but if theres a fight we can work on together we will work together, no problem, Perez said. We had a great relationship with Top Rank and we like and respect Bob [Arum] and Todd. I think Bradley would be a huge fight and a great fight.When asked for his view of the possible fight, duBoef was not overly enthusiastic and not anxious to go down that road. But he said he would acquiesce to his fighter.If its a fight that Tim Bradley and Monica want, I would discuss it, duBoef said.Regardless of when Cotto returns, at what weight and against which opponent, he will be back soon training with Hall of Famer Freddie Roach and looking for the biggest fight that can be made.This is the first time he had a layoff like this, Perez said. But at this point in his career its good for him. Hes been moving around in the gym to maintain his condition but its good for him to get the rest. But he is ready to fight again. ' ' '