Seattle Mariners: How Close?

This is the next post in a series of posts that will look at the closest Major League Baseball franchises have been to winning their last pennant and last World Series Championship. Four teams have won neither a World Series nor a pennant. Some teams have won a pennant, but no World Series. Many have won both, but its been a while since their last.

This post concerns the Seattle Mariners.

Seattle Playoff appearances: 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001

Seattle entered the league in 1977 as an expansion team. They did not have a great first decade. The M's did not record their first winning record until 1991. Jim Lefebvre got them to an 83-79 record in his third season as manager. But, he was fired. Bill Plummer's only year as Seattle manager was 1992 and the M's finished at 64-98.

Lou Pinella took over in 1993 and the M's went 82-80. Just forget the strike year, because the big year in Seattle history was 1995. They rallied from way back in the West to catch the Angels and force a one game playoff. Seattle won the division title. Then, in the divisional round, they rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Yankees.

They would lose in six games to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS.

Seattle made it back to the playoffs in 1997, but they lost 3-1 to Baltimore in the divisional round.

In 2000, the Mariners got in as the Wild Card and swept the Chicago White Sox out of the playoffs in the divisional round. But, the Yankees stopped the M's in six games in the ALCS.

The 2001 Mariners won 116 games in the regular season. Cleveland pushed them to five games in the first round, but Seattle advanced to the ALCS against the Yankees. But, the Yankees won the series in five games.

Out of the four post-season appearances by the M's the closest they have been to an AL pennant was their first time in 1995.

The M's won game one of the 1995 ALCS 3-2 at the Kingdome. The Indians won game two 5-2. Game three at Jacobs Field went extra innings, but the Mariners won 5-2. Jay Buhner's two-out, three-run homer in the eleventh gave Seattle the lead in the game. Norm Charlton pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eleventh for a 2-1 lead in the series.

Game four was all Cleveland in a 7-0 win to tie the series 2-2.

Game five was the key. Chris Bosio against Orel Hershiser. Eddie Murray singled in an unearned run in the bottom of the first.

Seattle tied the game on an RBI double by Ken Griffey in the third. Seattle took the lead in the fifth when Joey Cora scored on an error.

But, Cleveland answered against Bos in the bottom of the sixth. Murray doubled with one out. Then, Jim Thome hit a two run homer for a 3-2 Cleveland lead. That would be the final score.

The Indians finished off the series with a 4-0 victory in game six back at the Kingdome.

Based on this cursory look back, the answer to the question Seattle Mariners: How Close?

October 15, 1995. The Mariners held a 3-2 lead with one out in the bottom of the sixth of game five of the ALCS. Seattle was eleven outs from a win in that game, which would have put them up 3-2 in the series.

Seattle was one win and eleven outs from winning a pennant in 1995 and eleven outs and five wins from a World Championship.