# 1997 Seattle Mariners season

The Seattle Mariners 1997 season was their 21st season, and the team won their second American League West title, with a record of 90–72 (.556), 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 history, 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.
* November 12, 1996: Jalal Leach was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.
* November 15, 1996: Dave Silvestri was selected off waivers by the Mariners from the Montreal Expos.
* December 21, 1996: Josías Manzanillo was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.
* January 10, 1997: Brent Mayne was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.
* January 22, 1997: Rob Ducey was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.
* January 24, 1997: Mike Blowers was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.
* February 20, 1997: Dennis Martínez was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.
* 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. 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

* Jay Buhner
* Joey Cora
* Russ Davis
* Jeff Fassero
* Ken Griffey Jr.
* Edgar Martínez
* Alex Rodriguez
* Paul Sorrento
* Lee Tinsley
* Dan Wilson

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Seattle Mariners | 90 | 72 | .556 | — | 45‍–‍36 | 45‍–‍36 |
| Anaheim Angels | 84 | 78 | .519 | 6 | 46‍–‍36 | 38‍–‍42 |
| Texas Rangers | 77 | 85 | .475 | 13 | 39‍–‍42 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Oakland Athletics | 65 | 97 | .401 | 25 | 35‍–‍46 | 30‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1997 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ANA | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR | NL |
| Anaheim | — | 4–7 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 7–4 | 5–6 | 6–5 | 7–4 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 11–1 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 6–5 | 4–12 |
| Baltimore | 7–4 | — | 5–7 | 5–6 | 6–5 | 6–6 | 7–4 | 5–6 | 10–1 | 8–4 | 8–3 | 7–4 | 10–1 | 6–6 | 8–7 |
| Boston | 5–6 | 7–5 | — | 3–8 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 3–8 | 8–3 | 8–3 | 4–8 | 7–4 | 7–4 | 3–8 | 6–6 | 6–9 |
| Chicago | 5–6 | 6–5 | 8–3 | — | 5–7 | 4–7 | 11–1 | 4–7 | 6–6 | 2–9 | 8–3 | 5–6 | 3–8 | 5–6 | 8–7 |
| Cleveland | 4–7 | 5–6 | 5–6 | 7–5 | — | 6–5 | 8–3 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 5–6 | 7–4 | 3–8 | 5–6 | 6–5 | 9–6 |
| Detroit | 6–5 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–4 | 5–6 | — | 6–5 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 2–10 | 7–4 | 4–7 | 7–4 | 6–6 | 8–7 |
| Kansas City | 5–6 | 4–7 | 8–3 | 1–11 | 3–8 | 5–6 | — | 6–6 | 7–5 | 3–8 | 3–8 | 5–6 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 6–9 |
| Milwaukee | 4–7 | 6–5 | 3–8 | 7–4 | 4–8 | 7–4 | 6–6 | — | 5–7 | 4–7 | 5–6 | 5–6 | 7–4 | 7–4 | 8–7 |
| Minnesota | 7–4 | 1–10 | 3–8 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–4 | 5–7 | 7–5 | — | 3–8 | 7–4 | 5–6 | 3–8 | 3–8 | 7–8 |
| New York | 7–4 | 4–8 | 8–4 | 9–2 | 6–5 | 10–2 | 8–3 | 7–4 | 8–3 | — | 6–5 | 4–7 | 7–4 | 7–5 | 5–10 |
| Oakland | 1–11 | 3–8 | 4–7 | 3–8 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 8–3 | 6–5 | 4–7 | 5–6 | — | 5–7 | 5–7 | 6–5 | 7–9 |
| Seattle | 6–6 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 6–5 | 8–3 | 7–4 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 7–4 | 7–5 | — | 8–4 | 8–3 | 7–9 |
| Texas | 4–8 | 1–10 | 8–3 | 8–3 | 6–5 | 4–7 | 5–6 | 4–7 | 8–3 | 4–7 | 7–5 | 4–8 | — | 4–7 | 10–6 |
| Toronto | 5–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 6–6 | 6–5 | 4–7 | 8–3 | 5–7 | 5–6 | 3–8 | 7–4 | — | 4–11 |

### Notable transactions

* April 8, 1997: Steve Decker was signed as a free agent with the Seattle Mariners.
* May 24, 1997: Dennis Martínez was released by the Seattle Mariners.
* 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.
* 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
## 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 | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Dan Wilson | 146 | 508 | 137 | .270 | 15 | 74 |
| 1B | Paul Sorrento | 146 | 457 | 123 | .269 | 31 | 80 |
| 2B | Joey Cora | 149 | 574 | 172 | .300 | 11 | 54 |
| SS | Alex Rodriguez | 141 | 587 | 176 | .300 | 23 | 84 |
| 3B | Russ Davis | 119 | 420 | 114 | .271 | 20 | 63 |
| LF | José Cruz Jr. | 49 | 183 | 49 | .268 | 12 | 34 |
| CF | Ken Griffey Jr. | 157 | 608 | 185 | .304 | 56 | 147 |
| RF | Jay Buhner | 157 | 540 | 131 | .243 | 40 | 109 |
| DH | Edgar Martínez | 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
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Rich Amaral | 89 | 190 | 54 | .284 | 1 | 21 |
| Brent Gates | 65 | 151 | 36 | .238 | 3 | 20 |
| Mike Blowers | 68 | 150 | 44 | .293 | 5 | 20 |
| Rob Ducey | 76 | 143 | 41 | .287 | 5 | 10 |
| Lee Tinsley | 49 | 122 | 24 | .197 | 0 | 6 |
| Roberto Kelly | 30 | 121 | 36 | .298 | 7 | 22 |
| Andy Sheets | 32 | 89 | 22 | .247 | 4 | 9 |
| John Marzano | 39 | 87 | 25 | .287 | 1 | 10 |
| Álvaro Espinoza | 33 | 72 | 13 | .181 | 0 | 7 |
| Raúl Ibañez | 11 | 26 | 4 | .154 | 1 | 4 |
| Rick Wilkins | 5 | 12 | 3 | .250 | 1 | 4 |
| Dan Rohrmeier | 7 | 9 | 3 | .333 | 0 | 2 |
| Giomar Guevara | 5 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Brian Raabe | 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
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Jeff Fassero | 35 | 234.1 | 16 | 9 | 3.61 | 189 |
| Randy Johnson | 30 | 213.0 | 20 | 4 | 2.28 | 291 |
| Jamie Moyer | 30 | 188.2 | 17 | 5 | 3.86 | 113 |
| Bob Wolcott | 19 | 100.0 | 5 | 6 | 6.03 | 58 |
| Omar Olivares | 13 | 62.1 | 1 | 4 | 5.49 | 29 |
| Ken Cloude | 10 | 51.0 | 4 | 2 | 5.12 | 46 |
| Dennis Martínez | 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
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Scott Sanders | 33 | 65.1 | 3 | 6 | 6.47 | 62 |
| Derek Lowe | 12 | 53.0 | 2 | 4 | 6.96 | 39 |
| Felipe Lira | 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
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Norm Charlton | 71 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 7.27 | 55 |
| Bobby Ayala | 71 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 3.82 | 92 |
| Bob Wells | 46 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5.75 | 51 |
| Greg McCarthy | 37 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.46 | 34 |
| Heathcliff Slocumb | 27 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 4.13 | 28 |
| Mike Timlin | 26 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3.86 | 9 |
| Paul Spoljaric | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.76 | 27 |
| Josías Manzanillo | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.40 | 18 |
| Mark Holzemer | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6.00 | 7 |
| Edwin Hurtado | 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 9.00 | 10 |
| Mike Maddux | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10.13 | 7 |
| Rafael Carmona | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.18 | 6 |
| Tim Davis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 10 |
| Salomón Torres | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 0 |

## ALDS
### Game 1

October 1, Kingdome
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | 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 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | 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 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | 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 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | 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

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tacoma Rainiers | Pacific Coast League | Dave Myers |
| AA | Memphis Chicks | Southern League | Dave Brundage |
| A | Lancaster JetHawks | California League | Rick Burleson |
| A | Wisconsin Timber Rattlers | Midwest League | Gary Varsho |
| A-Short Season | Everett AquaSox | Northwest League | Orlando Gómez |
| Rookie | AZL Mariners | Arizona League | Darrin Garner |