1995 Seattle Mariners

 Teams relocate all the time. The Dodgers left Brooklyn. The Twins and Rangers left Washington. The Athletics left Philadelphia, and Kansas City...and Oakland. Point is that teams don't always work out in their market, usually because they aren't very good and the fans abandon them. The Seattle Mariners almost ended up in that very situation.

Going into the 90's, the Mariners were still seeking for a winning season and in danger of going the way of the Seattle Pilots. The franchise had brought in Lou Piniella to be Manager in 1993 and while he helped guide them to a winning season, they still lacked postseason accomplishments. As 1995 got underway, it looked like they were on their way to another "good but not good enough" season as they entered late August as a team hovering around .500 and 13 games behind the California Angels in the AL West.

A combination of a hot streak by Seattle and a huge collapse by California allowed the Mariners to claw their way back into contention. As the season entered it's final few games, the M's actually took over 1st place, but couldn't hold it as the Angels managed to strike back to tie for 1st place with identical 78-66 records. Meanwhile, the New York Yankees ended their season at 79-65, only 2nd place in the AL East but locking up the Wild Card by 1 game over the Mariners/Angels tie, which meant there needed to be a tie-breaker game to determine which team would win the West and which team goes home.

The tie-breaker featured a unique pitching matchup. For Seattle, their unquestioned ace Randy Johnson. As for California, they turned to the man Seattle had traded away for Johnson in Mark Langston. The Mariner offense went to work in the late innings to bury the Angels and Johnson pitched another gem to win the game in a 9-1 blowout to secure the teams 1st division title and playoff appearance.

In the ALDS, the Mariners faced the Yankees in a format that saw the series open with 2 games in New York and the final 3 in Seattle. The Yankees won a grueling Game 1, then took Game 2 with a 15th inning walk-off homer by Jim Leyritz. Despite the 0-2 hole in the best of 5 series, Lou Piniella wasn't worried. He had Randy Johnson ready for Game 3 who kept the Yankees at bay to give Seattle their first postseason win in history. In Game 4, a back and forth game was put away in Seattle's favor with a grand slam by Edgar Martinez, setting up a winner-take-all Game 5.

The deciding game saw the Yankees take a 2 run lead late into the game, but as Seattle proved in their regular season comeback in the standings, a late deficit didn't scare them. They tied it up in the 8th inning then went into extra innings. In the 11th inning, the Yankees scratched across a run off Johnson, but in their half of the inning the Mariners struck quickly to have tying run Alex Cora on 3rd and winning run Ken Griffey Jr on 1st as Edgar Martinez stepped in to hit. In what is still known to this day as the greatest moment in Mariners history, "The Double" occurred as Martinez drove a deep drive to the left field wall that easily scored Cora, and a sprinting Griffey scored all the way from 1st base to clinch the series for the Mariners.

Not many teams can point to a win in the Division Series as a turning point, but for the Mariners, The Double ended any talk of relocating to Tampa Bay (the Devil Rays didn't exist yet) and convinced Seattle to find a way to pay for a new stadium to keep the Mariners around. Even after a humbling 4-2 series loss to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS, the Mariners still walked away from 1995 feeling like they won big.

Before "The Double" saved Seattle in baseball, Martinez had his best season ever in 1995, leading the American League with a .356 Average, 121 Runs and 52 (not quite as notable) Doubles. The all star and Hall of Famer finished 3rd for the MVP and won the Silver Slugger. His Grand Slam in Game 4 (2nd of his homers that night) ensured that there would even be a Game 5 to be the hero in.

A wrist injury cost Griffey a huge chunk of the season, but the Gold Glove all star still made it back in time to lead the Ms to the playoffs. He made up for lost time in October though, hitting 5 Home Runs against the Yankees and adding another one in the ALCS against Cleveland.

With Griffey hurt, it was up to Buhner to be the big power hitting in Seattle, and he delivered with a team best 40 Home Runs and 121 RBI. He finished 5th for MVP and added 4 more homers in the playoffs.

The rest of the usual starters. Tino Martinez would join Edgar and Griffey at the all star game.

The bench players. Lots of playing time to go around with Griffey injured. Amaral and Diaz took advantage, with Amaral ending up as the teams Stolen Base leader with 21.

The Big Unit put the team on his back when they needed him most. The Cy Young winner led with a 2.48 ERA and 294 Strikeouts while also leading the Mariners with 18 Wins (including the tie-breaker victory over the Angels). The all star would also get himself MVP votes and finish in the top 10. He'd add a couple more Wins against the Yankees in the ALDS including the 1st ever October win in Mariners history, and the ALDS clinching win out of the bullpen in Game 5.

The Starters after Johnson in the rotation. All their Strikeouts combined (271) don't equal what Johnson did all by himself (294). The lowest ERA among them (Belcher's 4.52) is almost double Johnson's (2.48). Yes, Johnson was a Hall of Fame talent on another level in 1995, but the rest of Seattle's pitchers were a serios step down after him.

Ayala and late season pickup Charlton were Seattle's Closer options, with 19 and 14 Saves respectively. Charlton was busy in the playoffs, getting a Win and a Save in both the ALDS and ALCS.

Bullpen and other arms for the M's. Waaaaaaay too many 0 control guys here. With the other Starters gassed after the long ALDS finale, the Mariners actually handed the ball to Bob Wolcott to start the ALCS against the Indians and he responded with a well pitched game and the Win.

Felix Fermin would get solid playing time in '95, but was best remembered in baseball circles for being the center piece of a trade that didn't happen. For 1996, the Yankees were about to try a rookie named Derek Jeter as their everyday Shortstop. Concerns about not having a plan B made Yankee management consider trading for a backup just in case, and the team focused on Fermin as that backup. The potential trade that was circulated would involve the Yankees parting with this little known Reliever named Mariano Rivera.
Thankfully, for Yankees fans, the deal never happened. The Mariners would release Fermin anyway in the spring...and the Yankees would sign him only to not like what they saw and release him in a few weeks. He'd catch on with the Cubs briefly but his career was over after 1996. That Jeter kid ended up doing just fine without a plan B behind him, and that Rivera guy ended up becoming a bit more known too.