THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Prediction: NBT-44 will come to an end soon

Notes and quotes as we hit the halfway point of a depressing week…

Yep, sorry to even bring this up, but they’re playing baseball in Texas.

It’s the World Series, in fact, although the teams hail from Florida and California — and they’re playing in a Dallas suburb because of a virus we’ve gotten to know all too well for my liking.

Besides COVID-19, however, there’s a distinctly Northwestern virus associated with the World Series.

It’s called NBT-44.

Or, more popularly: “Never Been There in 44 years.”

Even though the Mariners have endured 30 losing seasons over that stretch, I’m heading out on a limb to say that glory is just down the road.

Prediction: The M’s will play in their first World Series in 2022.

Go ahead, write it down!

By the way, even though Seattle is the only current franchise that’s never made it to the Series, there are five others (including Tampa Bay) who have enjoyed all the hoopla but never won the thing — Colorado, Texas, San Diego and Milwaukee, in addition to those darling Rays.

Now then, moving along…

ITEM: Perhaps I get most of my mail from the savvy readers.

That’s why I wasn’t worried that some of you might be baffled by Monday’s reference to “regression to the mean.”

Was I not clear enough?

OK, pretend you’re in a college statistics class, and the prof explains the concept this way…

“Regression to the mean is the phenomenon that arises if a sample point is extreme (nearly an outlier). It suggests that a future point will be closer to the mean, or to the average, on further measurements.”

Short version: If you flip a coin a hundred times and it comes up heads 81 times, the odds are overwhelming that on the next hundred flips, the result will be closer to 50-50.

Now our sports example…

Let’s say a team wins (or loses) more close games than the team’s talent or statistics suggest it should.

In that case, “regressing to the mean” would be some opposite results to even up that unusual string of wins or losses.

What we don’t know yet, obviously, is whether the 5-0 Seahawks are really as good as their record indicates — or that there will some regressing to the mean, with some losses dragging the record closer to their talent level.

Extra credit item: Their “mean” might be better than the stats suggest, simply because of Russell Wilson.

Russ can change a team’s “mean,” if you know what I, um…

Mean.

Got it?

Good, you’re off for the day, class!

ITEM: Gonzaga has made it official that another slugger has been added to the non-conference schedule.

This news already has hit the grapevine, but yes, the Zags will take on future pro big man Luka Garza and a 20-win Iowa team in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Dec. 19.

The original, pre-pandemic schedule looked tough — with the likes of Texas (in Austin), and Pac-12 foes Washington, Arizona and Southern Cal on the docket.

There were also planned neutral-site games against Tennessee and Texas Tech to spice things up.

Well, those teams are still around.

The Zags will open their regular season schedule with what remains of the Orlando Invitational, and open against either Texas Tech or Auburn on Thanksgiving weekend.

What fun.

They’ll still play Tennessee, while Iowa obviously has been added, and then there’s the blockbuster against Baylor — perhaps the best team in the nation — in Indianapolis.

Yes, the Zags brain trust will find some home games against slightly less terrifying opposition, but basically these duels with nationally ranked brutes mostly will come before this new-look Gonzaga team has found its rhythm.

It’s by far the toughest schedule the Zags have ever faced — especially so early in the year — and believe it or not, that’s by design.

By the time WCC conference play starts, the Zags will know exactly what they’ve got and where all these shiny new parts ought to fit.

Hint: Don’t be frightened by a loss (or two) during this early-season jaunt through Murderer’s Row.

The plan is to be ready for anyone — even some of these same teams — when it’s crunch time in March.

Let’s see how it goes.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday.

Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball, once per month during the offseason.

There is a possibility that Steve’s columns are regressing to the mean, by the way.