They made lots of spectacular plays and caught a lot of spectator attention, helping the team get enough support to finagle its way into a govt.-subsidized outdoor palace. But, as Griffey himself complained while he was asking to be traded last winter, one or two superstars can make some great SportsCenter highlight reels, but they don't make a winning team. So the Ms let Griffey go, after having already let Johnson go. But they didn't trade or bid for replacement divas. Instead, they kept most of their remaining better players, and carefully added good players to fill holes in the lineup.
Mariners are a real team.
They win by playing together, and lose when they don't. With the partial exceptions of Alex Rodriguez and Rickey Henderson, they've got athletes, not celebrities. They're as close as you can get in bigtime sports to the indie-rock aesthetic. What's still right with Bumbershoot. A local zine remembers a fallen bicycle messenger.