# 1988 Seattle Mariners season

The Seattle Mariners 1988 season was their 12th since the franchise creation, and ended the season finishing seventh in the American League West with a record of 68–93 (.422).

## Offseason

* December 9, 1987: Phil Bradley and Tim Fortugno were traded by the Mariners to the Philadelphia Phillies for Glenn Wilson, Mike Jackson, and Dave Brundage (minors).
* December 21, 1987: John Moses was released by the Mariners.
* December 22, 1987: Lee Guetterman, Clay Parker, and Wade Taylor were traded by the Mariners to the New York Yankees for Steve Trout and Henry Cotto.
* January 19, 1988: John Rabb was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.

## Regular season

* Mark Langston became the ace of the pitching staff as he led the club in wins (15) and strikeouts (235).

### Opening Day starters

* Mickey Brantley
* Alvin Davis
* Mike Kingery
* Ken Phelps
* Jim Presley
* Rey Quiñones
* Harold Reynolds
* Steve Trout
* Dave Valle
* Glenn Wilson

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Oakland Athletics | 104 | 58 | .642 | — | 54‍–‍27 | 50‍–‍31 |
| Minnesota Twins | 91 | 71 | .562 | 13 | 47‍–‍34 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Kansas City Royals | 84 | 77 | .522 | 19½ | 44‍–‍36 | 40‍–‍41 |
| California Angels | 75 | 87 | .463 | 29 | 35‍–‍46 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Chicago White Sox | 71 | 90 | .441 | 32½ | 40‍–‍41 | 31‍–‍49 |
| Texas Rangers | 70 | 91 | .435 | 33½ | 38‍–‍43 | 32‍–‍48 |
| Seattle Mariners | 68 | 93 | .422 | 35½ | 37‍–‍44 | 31‍–‍49 |

### Record vs. opponents

1988 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 4–9 | 5–7 | 4–7 | 4–9 | 5–8 | 0–12 | 4–9 | 3–9 | 3–10 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 5–8 |
| Boston | 9–4 | — | 8–4 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 10–3 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 2–11 |
| California | 7–5 | 4–8 | — | 9–4 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 3–9 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 7–4 | 5–7 | 4–9 | — | 3–9 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 3–9 | 5–8 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 7–5 |
| Cleveland | 9–4 | 5–8 | 4–8 | 9–3 | — | 4–9 | 6–6 | 9–4 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 6–7 |
| Detroit | 8–5 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 9–4 | — | 8–4 | 5–8 | 1–11 | 8–5 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 5–8 |
| Kansas City | 12–0 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 3–9 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 4–8 |
| Milwaukee | 9–4 | 3–10 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 8–5 | 9–3 | — | 7–5 | 6–7 | 3–9 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 7–6 |
| Minnesota | 9–3 | 5–7 | 9–4 | 9–4 | 7–5 | 11–1 | 6–7 | 5–7 | — | 3–9 | 5–8 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 7–5 |
| New York | 10–3 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 9–3 | — | 6–6 | 5–7 | 5–6 | 6–7 |
| Oakland | 8–4 | 9–3 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 5–8 | 9–3 | 8–5 | 6–6 | — | 9–4 | 8–5 | 9–3 |
| Seattle | 5–7 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 4–9 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 4–9 | — | 6–7 | 5–7 |
| Texas | 6–6 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 6–5 | 5–8 | 7–6 | — | 6–6 |
| Toronto | 8–5 | 11–2 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 8–4 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 7–5 | 6–6 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 23, 1988: John Christensen was released by the Mariners.
* June 1, 1988: Steve Balboni was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.
* June 1, 1988: Greg Pirkl was drafted by the Mariners in the 2nd round of the 1988 Major League Baseball Draft. Player signed June 6, 1988.
* June 8, 1988: Manager Dick Williams was fired and replaced by interim manager Jim Snyder.
* July 21, 1988: Ken Phelps was traded by the Mariners to the New York Yankees for Jay Buhner, Rich Balabon (minors) and a player to be named later. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Troy Evers (minors) to the Mariners on October 12.
* July 22, 1988: Glenn Wilson was traded by the Mariners to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Darnell Coles.

### Major League debuts

* Batters:
** Greg Briley (June 27)
** Bill McGuire (Aug 2)
* Pitchers:
** Erik Hanson (Sep 5)
** Mike Schooler (June 10)
** Terry Taylor (Aug 19)

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### 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 | Scott Bradley | 103 | 335 | 86 | .257 | 4 | 33 |
| 1B | Alvin Davis | 140 | 478 | 141 | .295 | 18 | 69 |
| 2B | Harold Reynolds | 158 | 598 | 169 | .283 | 4 | 41 |
| 3B | Jim Presley | 150 | 544 | 125 | .230 | 14 | 62 |
| SS | Rey Quiñones | 140 | 499 | 124 | .248 | 12 | 52 |
| LF | Mickey Brantley | 149 | 577 | 152 | .263 | 15 | 56 |
| CF | Henry Cotto | 133 | 386 | 100 | .259 | 8 | 33 |
| RF | Glenn Wilson | 78 | 284 | 71 | .250 | 3 | 17 |
| DH | Ken Phelps | 72 | 190 | 54 | .284 | 14 | 32 |

#### 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 |
| Steve Balboni | 97 | 350 | 88 | .251 | 21 | 61 |
| Dave Valle | 93 | 290 | 67 | .231 | 10 | 50 |
| Darnell Coles | 55 | 195 | 57 | .292 | 10 | 34 |
| Jay Buhner | 60 | 192 | 43 | .224 | 10 | 25 |
| Mike Kingery | 57 | 123 | 25 | .203 | 1 | 9 |
| Rick Rentería | 31 | 88 | 18 | .205 | 0 | 6 |
| Mario Díaz | 28 | 72 | 22 | .306 | 0 | 9 |
| Bruce Fields | 39 | 67 | 18 | .269 | 1 | 5 |
| Dave Hengel | 26 | 60 | 10 | .167 | 2 | 7 |
| Greg Briley | 13 | 36 | 9 | .250 | 1 | 4 |
| Edgar Martínez | 14 | 32 | 9 | .281 | 0 | 5 |
| Bill McGuire | 9 | 16 | 3 | .188 | 0 | 2 |
| John Rabb | 9 | 14 | 5 | .357 | 0 | 4 |
| Brick Smith | 4 | 10 | 1 | .100 | 0 | 1 |

### 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 |
| Mark Langston | 35 | 261.1 | 15 | 11 | 3.34 | 235 |
| Mike Moore | 37 | 228.2 | 9 | 15 | 3.78 | 182 |
| Bill Swift | 38 | 174.2 | 8 | 12 | 4.59 | 47 |
| Scott Bankhead | 21 | 135.0 | 7 | 9 | 3.07 | 102 |
| Mike Campbell | 20 | 114.2 | 6 | 10 | 5.89 | 63 |
| Steve Trout | 15 | 56.1 | 4 | 7 | 7.83 | 14 |
| Erik Hanson | 6 | 41.2 | 2 | 3 | 3.24 | 36 |
| Terry Taylor | 5 | 23.0 | 0 | 1 | 6.26 | 9 |

#### 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 |
| Edwin Núñez | 14 | 29.1 | 1 | 4 | 7.98 | 19 |
| Dennis Powell | 12 | 18.2 | 1 | 3 | 8.68 | 15 |

#### 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 |
| Mike Schooler | 40 | 5 | 8 | 15 | 3.54 | 54 |
| Mike Jackson | 62 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2.63 | 76 |
| Jerry Reed | 46 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.96 | 48 |
| Rod Scurry | 39 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4.02 | 33 |
| Bill Wilkinson | 30 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3.48 | 25 |
| Julio Solano | 17 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4.09 | 10 |
| Gene Walter | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.13 | 13 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Calgary Cannons | Pacific Coast League | Bill Plummer and Marty Martínez |
| AA | Vermont Mariners | Eastern League | Rich Morales |
| A | San Bernardino Spirit | California League | Ralph Dick |
| A | Wausau Timbers | Midwest League | Rick Sweet |
| A-Short Season | Bellingham Mariners | Northwest League | P. J. Carey |
| Rookie | AZL Mariners/Red Sox | Arizona League | Mike Verdi and Myron Pines |
AZL club affiliation shared with Boston Red Sox