1997 Seattle Mariners season explained

Seattle Mariners
Season:	1997
Misc:	American League West Champions
League:	American League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Kingdome
City:	Seattle, Washington
Divisional Place:	1st
Owners:	Hiroshi Yamauchi (represented by John Ellis)
General Managers:	Woody Woodward
Managers:	Lou Piniella
Television:	KIRO-TV 7 Fox Sports Northwest
Radio:	KIRO 710 AM (Dave Niehaus, Chip Caray, Rick Rizzs, Ron Fairly, Dave Valle, Dave Henderson)

The Seattle Mariners 1997 season was their 21st season, and the team won their second American League West with a record of six games ahead of the runner-up Anaheim Angels. For the second straight year, they led the AL in runs scored (925) and shattered the all-time record for most home runs hit by a team in one season (set at 257 by the Baltimore Orioles the year before) with 264. Five Mariners scored at least 100 runs and six hit at least 20 home runs. In addition, the Seattle pitching staff led the league with 1,207 strikeouts.In the postseason, the Mariners lost the ALDS to the Baltimore Orioles in 4 games.

The Mariners drew over three million in home attendance for the first time in franchise in the penultimate full season at the Kingdome. Ken Griffey Jr. hit a franchise record 56 home runs and won the Most Valuable Player award in the American League. This would be Randy Johnson's final full year in a Mariners uniform, he would be traded to Houston midway through the 1998 season.

Offseason

October 3, 1996: Ricky Jordan was released by the Mariners.^[1]
November 12, 1996: Jalal Leach was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.^[2]
November 15, 1996: Dave Silvestri was selected off waivers by the Mariners from the Montreal Expos.^[3]
December 21, 1996: Josías Manzanillo was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.^[4]
January 10, 1997: Brent Mayne was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.^[5]
January 22, 1997: Rob Ducey was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.^[6]
January 24, 1997: Mike Blowers was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.^[7]
February 20, 1997: Dennis Martínez was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.^[8]
March 27, 1997: Dave Silvestri was selected off waivers by the Texas Rangers from the Mariners.
March 28, 1997: Brent Mayne was released by the Mariners.

Regular season

In 1997, Randy Johnson set an American League record for left-handers by striking out 19 batters in a 4–1 loss to the Oakland A's on June 24.^[9] On August 8 he matched the feat by setting down 19 Chicago White Sox.Johnson posted a 20–4 record with 291 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.28. He finished second in the Cy Young balloting to Toronto's Roger Clemens.

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

April 8, 1997: Steve Decker was signed as a free agent with the Seattle Mariners.^[11]
May 24, 1997: Dennis Martínez was released by the Seattle Mariners.^[8]
July 17, 1997: Josías Manzanillo was released by the Seattle Mariners.
July 31, 1997: Heathcliff Slocumb was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Seattle Mariners for Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek.
July 31, 1997: Paul Spoljaric was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays with Mike Timlin to the Seattle Mariners for Jose Cruz.^[12]
August 20, 1997: Roberto Kelly was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Seattle Mariners for players to be named later. The Seattle Mariners sent Joe Mays (October 9, 1997) and Jeromy Palki (minors) (October 9, 1997) to the Minnesota Twins to complete the trade.
September 2, 1997: Steve Decker was released by the Seattle Mariners.

Roster

1997 Seattle Mariners
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	146	508	137	.270	15	74
1B		146	457	123	.269	31	80
2B	149	574	172	.300	11	54
SS	141	587	176	.300	23	84
3B	119	420	114	.271	20	63
LF	49	183	49	.268	12	34
CF	157	608	185	.304	56	147
RF	157	540	131	.243	40	109
DH	155	542	179	.330	28	108

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
89	190	54	.284	1	21
65	151	36	.238	3	20
68	150	44	.293	5	20
76	143	41	.287	5	10
49	122	24	.197	0	6
30	121	36	.298	7	22
32	89	22	.247	4	9
39	87	25	.287	1	10
33	72	13	.181	0	7
11	26	4	.154	1	4
5	12	3	.250	1	4
7	9	3	.333	0	2
5	4	0	.000	0	0
2	3	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
35	234.1	16	9	3.61	189
30	213.0	20	4	2.28	291
30	188.2	17	5	3.86	113
19	100.0	5	6	6.03	58
13	62.1	1	4	5.49	29
10	51.0	4	2	5.12	46
9	49.0	1	5	7.71	17

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
33	65.1	3	6	6.47	62
12	53.0	2	4	6.96	39
8	18.2	0	4	9.16	9

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
71	3	8	14	7.27	55
71	10	5	8	3.82	92
46	2	0	2	5.75	51
37	1	1	0	5.46	34
27	0	4	10	4.13	28
26	3	2	1	3.86	9
20	0	0	0	4.76	27
16	0	1	0	5.40	18
14	0	0	1	6.00	7
13	1	2	0	9.00	10
6	1	0	0	10.13	7
4	0	0	0	3.18	6
2	0	0	0	6.75	10
2	0	0	0	27.00	0

ALDS

See main article: 1997 American League Division Series.

Game 1

October 1, Kingdome

Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	E
Baltimore	0	0	1	0	4	4	0	0	0	9	13	0
Seattle	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	3	7	1
W: Mike Mussina (1-0) L: Randy Johnson (0-1) SV: None
HR: BAL - Gerónimo Berroa (1) Chris Hoiles (1) SEA - Edgar Martínez (1) Jay Buhner (1) Alex Rodriguez (1)

Game 2

October 2, Kingdome

Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	E
Baltimore	0	1	0	0	2	0	2	4	0	9	14	0
Seattle	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	3	9	0
W: Scott Erickson (1-0) L: Jamie Moyer (0-1) SV: None
HR: BAL - Harold Baines (1) Brady Anderson (1) SEA - None

Game 3

October 4, Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	E
Seattle	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	4	11	0
Baltimore	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	5	0
W: Jeff Fassero (1-0) L: Jimmy Key (0-1) SV: None
HR: BAL - None SEA - Jay Buhner (2) Paul Sorrento (1)

Game 4

October 5, Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	E
Seattle	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0
Baltimore	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	X	3	7	0
W: Mike Mussina (2-0) L: Randy Johnson (0-2) SV: Randy Myers (1)
HR: BAL - Jeff Reboulet (1) Gerónimo Berroa (2) SEA - Edgar Martínez (2)

Awards and honors

The Mariners led the American League in home runs with 264^[13]

Farm system

External links

Notes and References

Web site: Ricky Jordan Stats.
Web site: Jalal Leach Stats.
Web site: Dave Silvestri Stats.
Web site: Josias Manzanillo Stats.
Web site: Brent Mayne Stats.
Web site: Rob Ducey: Career Statistics . Baseball Reference. 14 March 2018.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blowemi01.shtml Mike Blowers Statistics
Web site: Dennis Martinez Stats.
Web site: Randy Johnson | baseballbiography.com . August 12, 2008 . mdy-all .
http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1997&t=SEA 1997 Seattle Mariners Roster by Baseball Almanac
https://www.baseball-reference.com/d/deckest01.shtml Steve Decker Statistics
https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/spoljpa01.shtml Paul Spoljaric Statistics
Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.380, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007