won their one hundredth and sixteenth game

of the season.

They tied the MLB record

set by the 1906 Chicago Cubs

and broke the AL record of 114

set by the '98 Yankees,

a team widely considered one of the greatest

in MLB history.

And they achieved this mark in the wake

of losing three franchise icons.

At the 1998 trade deadline,

in the midst of a down year,

Seattle traded Cy Young award winner

Randy Johnson to the Astros.

In return the Mariners received

three important pieces to that 2001 team.

Shortstop Carlos Guillen as well as pitchers,

John Halama and Freddy Garcia.

The latter of which would make

the 2001 All-Star team.

After the 1999 season,

Pat Gillick was hired as GM

and given the duty of handling the future

of Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez,

both of whom were on expiring contracts

entering 2000.

Griffey was flipped to his hometown

Cincinnati Reds before the start of the season.

The returning package

included centerfielder, Mike Cameron,

who would go on to be an All-Star

and Gold Glove winner in 2001.

A-Rod played the year out,

a season in which he helped his team

battle the Yankees in the ALCS.

But they fell short and he walked in free agency.

But as one star walked out, another walked in.

Japanese phenom, Ichiro Suzuki

was headed for the states.

In Ichiro's 2001 rookie season,

he became the first player

in Major League Baseball history

to win MVP, Rookie of the Year, Silver Slugger,

a Gold Glove, and start in the All-Star game.

An All-Star game hosted by the city of Seattle.

And he appeared alongside seven other Mariners.

This historic team opened the post-season

against the Indians and were tested immediately,

dropping two of the first three games in the ALDS

But Freddy Garcia bounced back

from a game one loss

and aided by a three run seventh inning,

forced a game five,

a game in which Mark McLemore

hit a two run single in the second inning

to gain a lead

the Mariners would never relinquish.

- [Commentator] He's not hit lefties

well all year.

(cheering on television)

- [Commentator 2] How about that? Left field.

Pardova trapped it. Two runs in.

- Jamie Moyer, a stones throw away

from his 39th birthday,

kept the Indians' bats at bay

and Kazuhiro Sasaki closed the do or die win.

- [Commentator 2] And your winner...Seattle.

- [Mike] Seattle advanced to the ALCS

for the second consecutive year.

Once again, they faced the Yankees.

But this year the team was different.

And without spoiling anything,

I think everything's gonna work out.

Up against a Yankee's team

carrying the hope of a city

still reeling in the aftermath

of the September 11th attacks,

the Mariners lost their first two games at home.

Manager Lou Piniella guaranteed his Mariners

would win two of the next three games in New York

to bring the series back home,

but no one on this one hundred sixteen win team

ever played another post season game

in Seattle again.

In game four the Mariners entered

the bottom of the ninth tied at one.

Sasaki, the leagues runner up in saves

behind Yankees frame thrower Mariano Rivera

was on the mound.

But with one out and one on,

Alfonso Soriano came to the plate.

[Commentator] Swung on, hit high in the air

into deep right centerfield.

Back goes Ichiro, on the track,

at the wall, she's gone.

Alfonso Soriano wins the game

with a two run home run.

- [Mike] Game five wasn't even close

as the deflated Mariners

tumbled into the off season.

Heading into the 2002 season,

the Mariners lost a handful of players.

Most notably, the starting pitcher,

Aaron Sele, third baseman David Bell,

and Mariners legend, Jay Buhner,

who called it a career

after their postseason exit.

Sele, who signed with the Angels

was coming off a stellar year

and would be a difficult piece to replace.

They set their sight on

Giants pitcher, Jason Schmidt,

who is also coming off a solid '01 season.

But when Seattle refused to offer

anything more than a three year deal,

he resigned with the Giants.

The Mariners settled for

throwing a cheap deal at James Baldwin,

a massive downgrade on the mound.

Their focus on the bottom line

and hesitance to offer anyone

a contract longer than three years

became a theme of the season.

As for David Bell, an off season trade

sent him to San Francisco.

A move that was made once Seattle pried

former All-Star third baseman Jeff Cirillo

from Colorado.

But the move for Cirillo wasn't solely

to upgrade the hot corner.

It was in response to a contract impasse

with second baseman Bret Boone

who had finished the 2001 season,

third in MVP voting.

Seattle had offered Boone

a three year, twenty-two million dollar deal

which Boone deemed insufficient.

At the time the Mariners were owned

by Nintendo of America and Howard Lincoln

represented them as CEO of the team.

He was a business man and ran the team as such.

In reference to Boone's offer, he said,

And despite revenue numbers hitting

a hundred and seventy million dollars,

Lincoln used A-rod as an example

of where his priorities lie. Stating,

As a fan, that's not what you wanna hear.

But Boone eventually resigned

for an extra two million dollars

after failing to find the long term deal

he sought elsewhere.

Time for a championship.

With Boone on board, Seattle retained their core,

including all eight All-Stars

from the '01 campaign.

According to their reigning AL manager

of the year, Lou Piniella, they suddenly improved

When asked about following up

their one hundred and sixteen win season,

pitcher Paul Abbott said,

"We'll take ninety-five wins

and a world championship."

And they looked primed to do just that.

They put together a ten game win streak in April

and in May, Mike Cameron made baseball history

by hitting four home runs in one game.

The Mariners were firing on all cylinders.

- [Commentator 2] And that pitch is hit

to deep center field. Back goes Lofton.

To the track, to the wall, Cameron has done it.

- [Mike] But as the season went on,

it started to become clear that the Mariners

needed help to make a late season push.

Especially with newcomer Cirillo

not living up to expectations

and Baldwin being no replacement for Sele at all.

But with the budget in mind,

no major deals were made at the deadline.

Lincoln was quoted saying,

Let's put that on a tee shirt.

Edgar Martinez voiced his frustrations

with the lack of moves by ownership

especially while rivals such as Oakland

were making deals to set them up for a run

at the postseason.

But in the words of Howard Lincoln,

"I'm in the baseball business,

not the feel good business."

Around the deadline,

Lou Piniella stopped complaining,

reportedly due to a gag order.

Despite line-up concerns

the Mariners remained tied or in the lead

of their division from mid April

all the way till August 23rd.

It was then that Seattle,

tied for first with Oakland

entered a matchup with Cleveland.

A hundred and twenty consecutive games

on top of their division came to an end

in the bottom of the ninth.

With James Baldwin on the mound,

pitching out of the bullpen,

Josh Bard hit a walk-off home run.

- [Commentator 2] Deep to right, back goes Suzuki

at the track, at the wall, good-bye.

Josh Bard with a walk-off home run.

- [Mike] It was Bard's MLB debut.

One the Mariner's wouldn't forget

because they never got back on top.

Seattle was eliminated from postseason contention

a month later on September 26th,

following an Angels win over the Rangers

that clinched the wild card for Anaheim.

Along with a lack of meaningful deadline moves

and disappointing contributions

from off season acquisitions,

there was a decline in production

from some key members of the 2001 team.

Edgar Martinez was thirty-nine and after playing

a hundred and thirty-two games in '01,

he was limited to only ninety-seven in 2002

due to injuries.

In the late season slump,

saw his average plummet.

Paul Abbott, who went seventeen and four in 2001,

was demoted to the bullpen in April

and placed on the DL in May.

He finished 2002 with one win in five starts

and an eye-poppingly large ERA.

He was released at the end of the season.

Freddy Garcia who led the AL

in ERA the year before

added more than a full run to his ERA in 2002.

He still however made the All-Star team

for the second consecutive year.

Because the story of the 2002 Mariners

is not simply a failure to act

or a failure to produce,

it's also a heavily happened stance.

While battling for control

of the division in August,

their AL West foes in Oakland

were busy reeling off MLB's first

twenty game win streak since 1935.

On route to a one hundred and three win season.

Another division rival, the Angels

won sixteen of seventeen games

between late August and mid September

finishing ninety-nine and sixty-three,

good enough to win half the divisions

in the majors.

And blowing out the bridge

to the postseason behind them,

as they earned the wildcard spot,

leaving Seattle at the river's edge

with no life preserver.

In the off season, manager Lou Piniella

requested out of the final year of his contract

and hitched a ride to Tampa Bay.

Hired in his place,

was former Diamondbacks bench coach

and first time manager, Bob Melvin.

Again, the Mariners retained their core

and again they were formidable.

2003 was their year. I can feel it.

Seattle had led their division

for over one hundred consecutive games

when on August 22nd they entered

a four game series against Boston.