Mariners launched in 1977

By Tim Clinton

A capacity crowd of 57.762 filled the Kingdome on April 6, 1977, awaiting the return of Major League Baseball to Seattle after a seven-season hiatus.

Each fan received a First Nighter certificate and a commemorative-sized ticket stub before the expansion Seattle Mariners took on the California Angels.

Former Seattle Pilots pitcher Diego Segui toed the mound for the Mariners, who went down to an inconspicuous 7-0 defeat.

Seattle's first win came two days later by a 7-6 score over the same Angels.

Highlights were few and far between for the franchise in the early years after that.  There was Willie Horton's 300th career home run and the first Seattle All-Star Game in 1979, and Gaylord Perry's 300th career win in 1982.

Alvin Davis started off what would be a stellar career by winning the Rookie of the Year award for the American League in 1984.

The team's first winning season came in 1991 at 83-79 under manager Jim LeFebvre, who was still fired after it was over.

It took until 1995 for the team to finally make the postseason, and the Mariners made the most of the opportunity.  They beat the Angels in a one-game playoff for the American League West title and downed the New York Yankees in five games in their first ever playoff series.

Edgar Martinez won the fifth game with a memorable double down the left-field line in the bottom of the 11th inning, scoring Joey Cora with the tying run and Ken Griffey Jr. all the way from first with the winning run.

That club came the closest the Mariners have ever come to a World Series, taking the Cleveland Indians to the sixth game of the American League Championship Series before bowing out.

Seattle won the West again in 1997 but lost its opening series to the Baltimore Orioles.  The Mariners won the Wild Card in 2000 and swept their opening series against the Chicago White Sox but lost to the Yankees in the ALCS.

They won the West once more in 2001 and did it in dominating fashion, tying the Major League Baseball record for wins in a season of 116 set by the 1906 Chicago Cubs.  They lost to the Yankees in the ALCS again, however.

What followed was a string of near misses for the playoffs mixed with bad seasons until Cal Raleigh returned them to the postseason with a home run to right field to clinch a Wild Card berth in 2022.

There were highlights in between, like the record-setting efforts of Ichiro and the perfect game pitched by Felix Hernandez in 2012.  Ken Griffey Jr. also made a return appearance.

The 2022 team beat the Toronto Blue Jays in two games to open the playoffs before giving the eventual World Series champion Houston Astros all they could handle in a 3-0 American League Division Series loss.

Near misses for the playoffs struck again in 2023 and 2024, with the team hoping to return in 2025 behind a stellar group of starting pitchers.