Until tonight, the Seattle Mariners have not won the American League West since 2001, a season that still stands as one of the most remarkable in baseball history.
That year, the Mariners finished with 116 victories, tying the modern-era major league record for wins in a season.
Seattle’s .716 winning percentage matched the 1906 Chicago Cubs’ total of 116 wins, but the Mariners set a new standard for American League clubs.
Fifty-nine of their wins came by at least four runs, a feat later surpassed only by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022 and 2023.
They led Major League Baseball in both runs scored and fewest runs allowed and hold the all-time record for team Wins Above Replacement (WAR) at 50.4.
For comparison, the legendary 1927 New York Yankees posted a WAR of 48.7.
The season also marked the debut of Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki, who arrived in Seattle with sky-high expectations but quickly exceeded them.
Ichiro led the league in batting average and became the first player since Fred Lynn in 1975 to win both the AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP awards in the same season.
His unique style and international following made him an instant franchise icon.
The Mariners hosted the All-Star Game at Safeco Field on July 10, 2001, a midseason highlight that coincided with the team’s dominance.
By September, Seattle had clinched its division and earned a second straight postseason berth — the only time in franchise history the club has reached the playoffs in consecutive years.
Seattle defeated the Cleveland Indians in five games in the American League Division Series but lost to the New York Yankees in five games in the ALCS, an emotional night just one month after the terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C.
The Mariners became the first team in baseball history to win more than 110 games in the regular season and fail to reach the World Series.
The 2022 Dodgers would later join them in that distinction.
The 2001 team’s run came as something of a surprise.
After losing Alex Rodriguez to free agency the previous winter, expectations were low.
Las Vegas oddsmakers set the team’s preseason win projection at 81.5%.
Key offseason additions included second baseman Bret Boone, reliever Jeff Nelson, and Ichiro, whose transition from Japan was still uncertain.
Instead, Boone had a career year, Ichiro became a global star, and the Mariners captured the nation’s attention.
It was also the culmination of a franchise with a turbulent history.
After missing the playoffs in their first 18 seasons, the Mariners had built a core of stars in the 1990s — Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Tino Martinez, Jay Buhner, and Alex Rodriguez — but managed just one playoff series win with that group.
By 2001, nearly all of those players had departed, and few expected a historic turnaround.
Despite the record-setting year, the Mariners did not make the postseason again until 2022, ending what became the longest playoff drought in North American professional sports.
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