Seattle Mariners

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1977
• Home ballpark: T-Mobile Park, Seattle, Washington
• Owner: Baseball Club of Seattle
• Team colors: Navy blue, metallic silver, Northwest green, yellow, cream

Overview

The Seattle Mariners are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team playing in the American League (AL) West division. The Mariners were Seattle’s second attempt at a MLB team, beginning play in the Pacific Northwest just eight years after the ill-fated Seattle Pilots departed. For more than a decade, the Mariners were an afterthought in the AL, finishing no better than fourth in their division over that span. However, the situation slowly began to change around the late 1980s with the arrival of several young players who would go on to have Hall-of-Fame careers. Seattle made its first postseason appearance in 1995, winning an epic playoff series against the New York Yankees that has been immortalized in the city’s baseball lore. In 2001, the team was energized by Ichiro Suzuki, a superstar from Japan who propelled the team to a record-setting regular season. However, the success of the 1990s and early 2000s did not last, and Seattle soon slipped back into mediocrity. As of 2024, the Mariners are the only current MLB team to have never played in a World Series.

History

Amateur baseball teams had been active in the Seattle region since the 1870s, but the first professional team did not begin play until almost two decades later. In the early twentieth century, a minor league team known as the Seattle Giants was established in the city. The Giants were later renamed the Indians and eventually the Rainiers in the late 1930s. The Rainiers played in Seattle for almost three decades until the 1960s, when city leaders began making a push to get a MLB franchise. In 1969, their efforts paid off as the expansion Seattle Pilots were added to the AL West. However, the team’s inaugural season was a disaster on almost every level. On the field, the Pilots were a dismal 64–98, while the team’s stadium—which was built for the minor league Rainiers in 1938—was not suitable for a MLB team. After the season, the team’s primary investor withdrew his funding, throwing the franchise into bankruptcy. The Pilots were sold and moved to Milwaukee in 1970 where they became the Brewers.

The city of Seattle and county and state officials sued the AL for backing out of its agreement to play in Seattle and allowing the team to leave. Even with the lawsuit, local officials knew that to get another MLB team, they would have to build a modern sports stadium. Work on the multi-purpose facility began in 1972, and by 1976, the Kingdome was opened. That same year, the AL announced plans to expand by two teams, awarding a franchise later known as the Blue Jays to Toronto, Canada, and bringing a team back to Seattle. Fans were asked to submit suggestions for the name of the team, which was scheduled to begin play in 1977. Cub officials chose the name Mariners as a nod to the region’s maritime history and connection to the sea.

The Mariners’ first season brought back memories of the Pilots’ only season with the club posting a 64–98 record. The next decade featured more of the same, with Seattle losing one hundred or more games three times from 1978 to 1983. The team’s high-water mark during this period was a 78–84 record in 1987 and a fourth-place finish. However, all that losing had one silver lining, as Seattle earned the number one selection in the 1987 MLB Draft. The prize that year was a generational high school player named Ken Griffey Jr., the son of veteran outfielder and former All-Star Ken Griffey.

While Seattle continued to struggle in the late 1980s, the team was slowly adding pieces that would eventually help turn the franchise around. In addition to drafting Griffey in 1987, the Mariners also called up designated hitter/infielder Edgar Martinez that season. In 1988, they acquired outfielder Jay Buhner from the Yankees—a trade that would later become part of a famous joke on the TV sitcom Seinfeld. A year later, Seattle traded for pitcher Randy Johnson, a tall left-hander with intimidating talent who had yet to harness his potential.

Griffey made his MLB debut in 1989, and in 1990, was joined on the team by his father who was signed midseason after his release by the Cincinnati Reds. On August 14, 1990, the Griffeys made history by becoming the first father-son duo to homer in the same game. In 1991, the Mariners posted their first winning season in franchise history, finishing at 83–79. After a step back in 1992, the team hired manager Lou Piniella, a former player who had led the 1990 Reds to a World Series title.

Under Piniella’s guidance, the Mariners won the AL West division in 1995 and advanced to the playoffs for the first time. In the American League Division Series (ALDS), Seattle dropped the first two games to the New York Yankees but fought back to tie the series heading into a deciding fifth game. With the game tied at four in the eleventh inning, New York scored a run to take the lead, but the Mariners put two runners on base to start the bottom half of the eleventh. With the Kingdome crowd in a frenzy, Edgar Martinez hit a double down the left-field line that drove in two runs to win the series. Seattle went on the fall in the American League Championship Series (ALCS), but their comeback victory against the Yankees went on to become the signature moment in franchise history.

By the late 1990s, the Mariners had begun to lose many of their star players to free agency and trades, but they remained competitive. Seattle won another division title in 1997 before falling to the Baltimore Orioles in the ALDS. The Mariners made the playoffs in 2000 as a wild card team and advanced to the ALCS where they were defeated by the Yankees. Prior to the 2001 season, the Mariners signed outfielder Ichiro Suzuki who was one of the most popular baseball players in his native Japan. Ichiro had an immediate impact on both the Mariners and MLB in his first season. He led the league in hits, stolen bases, and batting average and became only the second player in history to win both the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Rookie of the Year. On a team level, Ichiro helped Seattle set an AL record by winning 116 games—a mark that also tied the MLB record. Unfortunately, the regular season success did not carry over into the postseasons, as the Mariners once again fell to the Yankees in the ALCS.

The 2001 season was the last time Seattle would make the playoffs until 2022, when they were swept out in the American League Division Series. From 2002 to 2023, the Mariners posted just five winning seasons, and finished last in their division eight times.

Notable players

As of 2020, six former players associated with the Seattle Mariners have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame; however, only three of them spent a considerable period of time with the team. Ken Griffey Jr. was one of the biggest superstars in baseball for much of the 1990s. Griffey played in Seattle from 1989 to 1999 and again in 2009 and 2010. He made ten of his thirteen All-Star appearances as a Mariner and won ten Gold Gloves with Seattle. He led the AL in home runs four times and was named the 1997 AL MVP. Griffey is the franchise leader in home runs with 417 and second all-time in runs batted in (RBIs) with 1,216. Over his twenty-two-year career, Griffey hit 630 home runs, seventh-most in baseball history.

A lifelong Mariner, Edgar Martinez played in Seattle from 1987 to 2004, making seven All-Star games and winning two AL batting titles. Martinez holds franchise records for runs scored with 1,219 and RBIs with 1,261 and is second in hits with 2,247 and home runs with 309. Randy Johnson played with the Mariners from 1989 to 1998 and won the 1995 CY Young Award with Seattle. Johnson still holds the franchise record for most career shutouts with 19 and is second in strikeouts with 2,162. Johnson went on to greater success with the Arizona Diamondbacks, winning four more Cy Young Awards from 1999 to 2002 and finishing his career with 4,875 strikeouts, second most of all-time.

Ichiro Suzuki is not a member of the Hall of Fame as of 2020 but that will certainly change once he is eligible. Ichiro played with Seattle from 2001 to 2012 and again in 2018 and 2019. He retired as the all-time franchise leader in hits with 2,542 and stolen bases with 438. As a Mariner, Ichiro led the AL in hits seven times and won two batting titles. In 2004, he set a MLB record for most hits in a single season with 262 and finished his career with 3,089. Although not an official record, Ichiro’s combined 4,367 hits in both the Japanese league and MLB are the most by any player in history.

Shortstop Alex Rodriguez played in Seattle from 1994 to 2000, making four All-Star teams in that span. He went on to have greater success with the Texas Rangers and Yankees, winning three MVP awards and finishing his career with 696 home runs, fourth most in history. Pitcher Felix Hernandez was a six-time All-Star with Seattle from 2005 to 2019 and won the 2010 AL Cy Young Award. In 2012, Hernandez made history when he pitched a perfect game, an extremely rare feat in which a pitcher retires all twenty-seven batters faced without allowing any to reach base. Hernandez is the Mariners’ all-time leader in wins with 169 and strikeouts with 2,524.

Since making his Major League debut in 2022, outfielder Julio Rodríguez has all the makings of a future superstar. He made the All-Star team in his first two seasons with the Mariners and won the 2022 AL Rookie of the Year Award.

Bibliography

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Emmerich, Michael. 100 Things Mariners Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. Triumph Books, 2015.

“Mariners History.” MLB.com, 2024, www.mlb.com/mariners/history. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

“Seattle Mariners.” Baseball Almanac, 2024, www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/mari.shtml. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

“Seattle Mariners Team History.” Sports Team History, 2020, sportsteamhistory.com/seattle-mariners. Accessed 28 May 2020.

“Seattle Mariners Team History & Encyclopedia.” Baseball Reference, 2024, www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SEA/. Accessed 28 May 2024.

Stein, Alan. “This Week Then: Rounding the Bases on Seattle’s Baseball History.” Seattle Magazine, 4 Apr. 2019, www.seattlemag.com/news/week-then-rounding-bases-seattles-baseball-history. Accessed 28 May 2020.

“Top 40 Greatest Players in Seattle Mariners History: The Top 10.” Seattle Times, 22 July 2017, www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/top-40-greatest-players-in-seattle-mariners-history-the-top-10/. Accessed 28 May 2020.