The first MLB team in the Pacific Northwest, the Seattle Pilots, played for one season in 1969 as an American League expansion team at Sick's Stadium, a former minor league venue. After their sale to avoid bankruptcy, the Pilots moved to Milwaukee in 1970 and became the Brewers.[1] The governments of Seattle, King County, and Washington filed a lawsuit against the American League in 1975 for a breach of contract in breaking the lease at Sick's Stadium; the lawsuit was withdrawn in exchange for a team that would play at the new Kingdome. After failed attempts to relocate an existing team, an expansion franchise was granted in 1976.[4]
The Mariners played their first game at the Kingdome on April 6, 1977, and finished their first season with a 64–98 record.[1] The team had 14 consecutive losing seasons and never finished in the top half of the seven-team AL West division until the 1990s; their first winning season was achieved in 1991 under manager Jim Lefebvre, who was fired at the end of the season.[5][6] The Mariners clinched the division title in 1995 by defeating the California Angels in a tie-breaker game after the two teams finished with identical 78–66 records.[7] They earned a place in the postseason for the first time in franchise history amid the threat of relocation due to the Kingdome's deteriorating condition.[1][8] The team's playoff run, which included a comeback series victory against the New York Yankees, ended with a loss to the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series (ALCS). In October 1995, the state and county governments approved financing to build a new stadium a month after voters had rejected a referendum on the issue.[7][9] Under manager Lou Piniella, the Mariners had three consecutive seasons with winning records and made another postseason appearance in 1997, but failed to advance beyond the American League Division Series (ALDS).[1][10]
The team earned their first wild card berth in the 2000 season and advanced to the ALCS, where they lost to the Yankees.[11][12] During the 2001 season, the Mariners won 116 games and tied the 1906 Chicago Cubs for the MLB record. The team advanced to the ALCS for the third time in franchise history and lost to the Yankees for the second consecutive year.[13][14] The Mariners failed to qualify for the postseason from 2001 to 2022;[15] the 21-year period was the longest active playoff drought in the North American major sports leagues at the time and among the longest in MLB history.[16][17] The team ended the drought with a wild card berth in 2022 and advanced to the ALDS, where they were eliminated by the Houston Astros, another AL West franchise.[18] The Mariners failed to return to the playoffs in the 2023 season despite finishing with a winning record for the third consecutive year.[19]
As of the end of their 48th season in 2024, the Mariners have an all-time regular season record of 3,599 wins and 3,950 losses.[20] They have had a winning record in 18 seasons, a losing record in 30 seasons, and five postseason berths.[20] After the Washington Nationals won the National League title in 2019, the Mariners are the only active MLB franchise never to have appeared in the World Series.[21]
The Mariners have made the postseason five times in their history. Their first postseason appearance was in 1995 and the most recent was in 2022.[20][22]
^ abIn both the 1980 and 1981 seasons, the Mariners played one game which ended in a tie not reflected in the regular season table.[20] On June 2, 1980, the Mariners were tied 3–3 with the Detroit Tigers after 13 innings before the game in Detroit was suspended due to rain;[24] the game was replayed on August 1 as part of a doubleheader.[25] On April 29, 1981, the Mariners played 8 innings with the Minnesota Twins at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome that was called off due to rain and hail with the score tied at 7;[26] it was replayed on August 14 as the first game in a doubleheader.[27] In 2007, the Major League Baseball Rules Committee approved a rule change that no longer required tied games to be replayed in their entirety; suspended games that are tied in the bottom of the fifth inning or later are to be resumed at the same stadium at the next meeting between the same teams.[28]
^A players' strike was called on June 12, 1981, and ended 59 days later on August 9. The 1981 season was reorganized into a split season with two champions for each division—the team with the best record in pre-strike games and the team with the best record in post-strike games (or the runner-up if the same team won both halves).[29]
^ abThe 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike, which started on August 12, led to the cancellation of the playoffs and World Series.[32] As a result of the shortened season, MLB did not officially award division championships.[33] Although they spent the entire season with a losing record, the Mariners were two games behind AL West leaders Texas Rangers by August 12.[34]
^The Kingdome was closed for emergency repairs following the collapse of ceiling tiles on July 19, 1994. As a result, the Mariners played the remainder of their schedule on the road; of the 30 scheduled road games, only 20 were played due to the players' strike called on August 12 that cancelled the rest of the season.[30][31]
^The team's 116 wins tied an MLB record that was originally set by the 1906 Chicago Cubs.[13] However, the Mariners played ten more games than the 1906 Cubs.[35]
^Boling, Dave (October 2, 2000). "Mariners are playoffs-bound". The News Tribune. p. A1. Archived from the original on January 10, 2024. Retrieved December 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^Finnigan, Bob (August 12, 1994). "'It's a hell of a way to get home' – Strike scatters nomadic M's when team's finally on roll". The Seattle Times. p. A1.
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