The Great Comeback Chase Of The 1995 Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners had suffered nearly two decades of irrelevance since their founding in 1977. They came into 1995 having posted just two winning seasons, with 83-79 as the high point and they had yet make the playoffs. In 1995, the Mariners not only ended that streak, they did it in historic comeback fashion that were punctuated with some postseason thrills.
SEARCHING FOR RELEVANCE
While the strike-shortened season of 1994 ended with Seattle fourteen games under .500 in mid-August, there was some hope in the Pacific Northwest. Lou Pinella had arrived as manager two years earlier. Ken Griffey Jr. was an established star in centerfield. Randy Johnson was a big-time ace for the rotation.
Moreover, the big divisional realignment of 1994 had opened up the playoff possibilities. The AL West was shrunk to four teams, instead of the seven that existed since Seattle’s inception. The Mariners needed only beat out the Texas Rangers, California Angels, and Oakland A’s—none of whom had been over .500 when the ’94 season prematurely ended. And now, for the first time, Major League Baseball was allowing one wild-card team per league into the playoffs.
THE SEATTLE STARS
Seattle was fueled by star power, with three of the top six finishers in the 1995 AL MVP voting. Edgar Martinez, their great designated hitter, won the batting title at .356, led the league with 52 doubles, hit 29 homers, and drove in 113 runs. Martinez finished third in the final MVP tally. RIghtfielder Jay Buhner was fifth, hitting 40 home runs and racking up 121 RBIs.
Johnson finished sixth in the MVP vote, and the big lefthander won the first of what would be five career Cy Young Awards. He went 18-2 with a 2.48 ERA in his 30 starts.
And that doesn’t even include Griffey Jr. A midseason injury cost the Hall of Fame outfielder substantial time in 1995, but he still posted a stat line of .379 on-base percentage/.481 slugging percentage.
THE SUPPORTING CAST
Those were the big names, but there was more. First baseman Tino Martinez exceeded the 30 HR/100 RBI thresholds. Across the infield at third, Mike Blowers hit 23 home runs and drove in 96 runs. Seattle had consistent contact hitters in second baseman Joey Cora, shortstop Luis Sojo, and leftfielder Vince Coleman, all of whom hit .289 or higher.
The Mariner offense finished third in the American League for runs scored. The pitching was a bit behind, at fifth in staff ERA. The depth after Johnson was an issue, but some key midseason additions plugged holes.
Tim Belcher was acquired in mid-May. While his 4.52 ERA in 28 starts doesn’t look impressive, this was also the point when offensive production across the league was starting to bloat due to PED use. Belcher’s work was reliable, if unspectacular, in context. The same went for veteran Chris Bosio who posted a 4.92 ERA in his 31 starts.
Acquisitions of Salomon Torres in May and Andy Benes at the trade deadline at least gave Pinella a five-man rotation he could work with, even if both pitchers struggled.
There was quality in the bullpen. Jeff Nelson and Bill Risley did good work in setup. Bobby Ayala was at least stable as the closer for much of the year. Until July when another acquisition paid off. Norm Charlton, one of the famed “Nasty Boys” relievers that Pinella managed to a World Series title with Cincinnati in 1990, was on the market. Seattle picked him up. Over the rest of the season, Charlton saved 14 games with 1.51 ERA.
THE MEDIOCRE MONTHS
The 1995 season began late, as the strike lingered into spring training. A shortened 144-game schedule began at the end of April. The Mariners burst out of the gate by taking three of four from the mediocre Detroit Tigers to open the season and then sweeping Texas on the road.
But the rest of May was a little more uneven. Seattle dropped two of three to California. Even worse was what happened on May 23. Griffey, while making a spectacular catch, broke his wrist. He would be out for three months.
Moreover, the AL West was playing better baseball as a group than they had in ’94, with all four teams over .500. The Angels, at 19-11, were setting the early pace. The Mariners were 16-13.
Seattle swept the contending New York Yankees three straight out of the holiday weekend. But a road trip to Boston resulted in three straight losses that began a 4-9 stretch. The Mariners, without Griffey, continued to play mediocre baseball for the balance of the early summer.
By the All-Star break, they were underwater at 34-35. The good news is they were still within five games of the Angels and Rangers, who were tied atop the AL West and also leading the wild-card race.
Nothing that happened out of the break could inspire optimism. Seattle played .500 ball the balance of July. They opened August by losing two of three to California, who seemed to be getting command of the AL West race. The Mariners’ deficit in the division race peaked at 13 games.
SIGNS OF LIFE
In this first part of August, Seattle finally began to get off the mat. They won eight of their next twelve games to stabilize. Griffey returned ahead of schedule, on August 15.
The Mariners also lost four of six at home to eventual AL East champion Boston and a more pedestrian Baltimore team. The positive is that with Texas coming back to the pack, no one was getting control of the wild-card race.
While the AL West seemed a lost cause, with Seattle 11 ½ back of California, the Mariners were only four off the pace for the wild-card on August 24. And the Yankees, a fellow contender for that spot, were coming to the old Kingdome for a four-game series.
A BIG SERIES WIN
Seattle trailed Thursday night’s opener 7-6 and New York’s excellent closer, John Wetteland, was on the mound. The first two batters were retired. Coleman worked a walk. He stole second base. Then he stole third base. Cora singled to tie it. Griffey came to the plate and homered to win it. In a game that proved foreshadowing of October, Seattle had a thrilling 9-7 win.
Edgar Martinez was the star on Friday night, hitting two home runs. Charlton worked 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief and the Mariners won 9-7. On Saturday night, Johnson dominated, He tossed a complete-game three-hitter. Coleman’s three hits and Buhner’s home run provided the offense in an easy 7-0 whitewash.
Even though Seattle’s offense fell quiet on Sunday and they lost the finale, the series was a big move forward, and the Mariners built on it by taking two of three from both the Red Sox and the Orioles.
On Labor Day, Seattle’s record was 61-58, enough to lead a packed wild-card race that had six teams within three games of each other. And if you were paying close attention, California had struggled badly in the latter part of August. The AL West margin had shrunk to 5 ½ games.
THE DIVISION TURNS UPSIDE DOWN
Momentum crested with a series loss in the Bronx, and the Mariners lost a makeup game to the Cleveland Indians, who were headed for the American League’s best record. But Seattle quickly recovered by sweeping the Kansas City Royals, one of the teams lingering on the wild-card fringe. The Mariners continued to play steady baseball in the week that followed. With two weeks to play, they were plus-one on the Yanks and Rangers for the wild-card, and the Angel lead had been chopped down to three games.
The regular season’s penultimate week was the one that dramatically shifted the landscape. Seattle blew threw Texas and Oakland, sweeping all six games. Not only were the Rangers finished, but the Angels melted down during the same week. While New York kept pace, Seattle was, quite improbably two games ahead of California going into the final week. The AL West was theirs for the taking and the wild-card was there as a fallback.
CLOSING IN
The Angels came to the Kingdome for a two-game series that started on Tuesday night. Griffey unloaded with three hits and home run. Buhner homered and Tino Martinez added three hits of his own. Benes was sharp and Seattle cruised to a 10-2 win.
With a chance to put the knife in on Wednesday night, the Mariner bats struggled, wasting a good outing by Belcher in a 2-0 loss. But just splitting the two games kept Seattle in control. They went to Texas for a season-ending four-game series still (+2) on California in the AL West and (+1) on New York for the wild-card.
THE FINAL WEEKEND
Johnson pitched on Thursday night, a schedule that would set him up to start the first postseason game and the big lefty was sharp. The game was tied 2-2 in the eighth. The Mariners loaded the bases with two outs. Griffey ripped a grand slam. Charlton closed out the 6-2 win.
More late-inning drama, albeit a little softer came on Friday night. Trailing 3-2 in the eighth, Seattle loaded the bases with a single, an error, and a walk. The two Martinez’s came through, with Edgar and Tino producing sac flies for a 4-3 win.
California and New York both kept pace, so the standings remained the same. There was also a strange tiebreaker situation looming over the race. If all three teams finished even, the Mariners and Angels would play a one-game playoff to settle the division. But because tiebreaker games are officially considered part of the regular season, the loser would drop a half-game behind the Yankees—who would get the wild-card by default.
It was an anomaly that would in future years be corrected. For now, it was a disadvantage for both AL West teams.
But the Mariners needed just one more win to put the AL West to bed. History was in their grasp. Not just for the franchise, but rallying from 13 games down on August 2 put Seattle’s surge on a short list of the great late-season comebacks.
But the Mariners suddenly regressed. They lost both games and by a combined score of 18-4. The Yankees kept winning and cleanly locked up the wild-card spot. And the Angels, given new life, also won twice. The AL West race was in a dead heat, with both teams at 78-66. It would all be settled with a tiebreaker game on Monday afternoon in Seattle.
AL WEST TIEBREAKER SHOWDOWN
Instead of starting Game 1 of the Division Series, Johnson was moved up to pitch this game on three days’ rest. He answered the bell and was brilliant. But Angel starter Mark Langston was hanging in there himself. A tense game saw Seattle clinging to a 1-0 lead when they came to bat in the bottom of the seventh.
A single, a bunt, and a hit batsman set up the Mariners with the bases loaded and two outs. Sojo came to the plate. He ripped a bases-clearing double, and when an error came on the relay throw, Sojo ran all the way home. They had broken it open and led 5-0.
If there was any doubt left, Seattle removed it with four more runs in the bottom of the eighth. While Johnson didn’t get the shutout, allowing a meaningless solo home run, he finished the job. When he struck out Tim Salmon, the Kingdome could finally explode.
DIVISION SERIES DRAMA
Seattle was headed to New York for the Division Series. The bracket and schedule was reflective of two other anomalies that may look strange to a modern audience.
In the early years of the Division Series round, MLB set the matchups based on a divisional rotation. Thus, even though Cleveland and Boston had the best two records in the American League, the AL West had been pre-determined to get the wild-card team. Moreover, the homefield format was 2-3, rather than the 2-2-1 of today. While Seattle would get a decisive fifth game at home, they had to open on the road.
The trip to the Bronx did not go well, and the Mariners gave up a combined 16 runs in losing the first two games. This special season looked finally ready to end. But it wasn’t in the 1995 Seattle Mariners to just roll over. They won Game 3 behind Johnson, survived an 11-8 slugfest to win Game 4 and set up the decisive game for a Sunday night national audience.
Trailing 4-2 in the eighth, the season again looked bleak. Seattle scored twice to tie it. They trailed again, 5-4, in the 11th. Surely the Mariners were done now, right? Wrong. Cora and Griffey reached base. Edgar Martinez doubled down the leftfield line. Both runners raced home. Seattle had stunned the baseball world yet again.
READ THE GAME-BY-GAME NARRATIVE OF THE 1995 AL DIVISION SERIES
The Mariners were becoming America’s Team, and they were big underdogs against the powerful Indians in the ALCS. The magic kept going for a little longer, as Seattle took two of the first three. But Cleveland was too potent in 1995, and the Mariners finally ran out of gas. They lost Games 4 & 5 on the road. Johnson was still on the mound, ready to go in Game 6, but the bats were silent in a 4-0 loss that ended the season.
It was the end of an incredible run, but also the start of a strong stretch ahead for baseball in Seattle. While the franchise never did reach the World Series—an achievement they continue to wait for in the Pacific Northwest, Pinella produced consistent teams through 2003, a stretch that included four playoff trips and the historic 116-win regular season of 2001.