The Seattle Mariners are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The team has been a member of the American League's West division since they entered as an expansion franchise in 1977.[1] Their name was chosen in a public contest and reflects the city's nautical history and location on Puget Sound.[2] The team's first home stadium was the Kingdome, an indoor multi-purpose stadium shared with other sports, from 1977 until 1999. The Mariners moved to their current home, T-Mobile Park (formerly Safeco Field), when it opened on July 15, 1999; the stadium has a retractable roof and a seating caapcity of 47,943.[3]
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against the American League in 1975 for a breach of contract in breaking the lease at Sick's Stadium; the lawsuit was withdrawn in exchange for a team that would play at the new Kingdome.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 (ACLS). 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 47th season in 2023, the Mariners have an all-time regular season record of 3,514 wins and 3,873 losses.[20] They have had a winning record in 17 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]
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