1994 Seattle Mariners season

The Seattle Mariners 1994 season was their 18th since the franchise creation, and ended the season finishing third in the American League West, finishing with a 49–63 (.438) record. The season was cut short by the infamous 1994 player's strike, which began on August 12.^[2]

1994 Seattle Mariners
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Kingdome
City	Seattle, Washington
Record	49–63 (.438)
Divisional place	3rd
Owners	Hiroshi Yamauchi (represented by John Ellis)
General managers	Woody Woodward
Managers	Lou Piniella
Television	KSTW, Prime Sports Northwest[1]
Radio	KIRO 710 AM (Dave Niehaus, Chip Caray, Ron Fairly, Ken Levine)
← 1993 Seasons 1995 →

The Mariners played their final twenty games on the road, due to interior ceiling repairs at the Kingdome;^[3][4] they were 10–1 in August, and won their final six games.^[2] An interesting footnote to add is that had the strike never occurred, the 1994 Mariners would've broken the 1899 Cleveland Spiders record for most road games played in MLB history (118), which would've broken the Spiders record of 112.

Offseason

• November 2, 1993: Bret Boone was traded with Erik Hanson to the Cincinnati Reds for Dan Wilson and Bobby Ayala.^[5]
• December 10, 1993: Eric Anthony was traded by the Houston Astros for Mike Felder and Mike Hampton.^[6]
• December 20, 1993: Félix Fermín was traded by the Cleveland Indians with Reggie Jefferson and cash for Omar Vizquel.^[7]
• January 10, 1994: Luis Sojo was signed as a free agent.^[8]
• January 31, 1994: Bobby Thigpen was signed as a free agent.^[9]
• February 15, 1994: Jerry Willard was signed as a free agent.^[10]

Regular season

• April 4: The Mariners played in the first game at Cleveland's Jacobs Field. President Bill Clinton threw out the ceremonial first pitch, and the Indians won 4–3 in 11 innings.^[11]
• June 17: In the Mariners' 65th game of the season, Ken Griffey Jr. hit his league-leading 30th home run off Kansas City Royals ace David Cone in a 5–1 win at Kauffman Stadium.
• July 8: Shortstop Alex Rodriguez made his major league debut at age 18.^[12] It was at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox; Rodriguez was flawless in the field, but went hitless in three at bats.^[13][14] He got his first major league hit the following day.^[15]

By Friday, August 12, the Mariners had compiled a 49–63 (.438) record through 112 games and were only two games behind the Texas Rangers for the lead in the four-team AL West Division.^[16] They had scored 569 runs (5.08 per game) and allowed 616 runs (5.50 per game).^[17]

Slightly more than half of the 162 games scheduled were to be televised this season, with 72 on KSTW and sixteen on Prime Sports Northwest; of those 88 games, 65 were on the road and 23 at home.^[1]

Opening day starters

• Rich Amaral
• Eric Anthony
• Mike Blowers
• Chris Bosio
• Jay Buhner
• Félix Fermín
• Ken Griffey Jr.
• Tino Martinez
• Greg Pirkl
• Dan Wilson^[18]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Texas Rangers	52	62	.456	—	31‍–‍32	21‍–‍30
Oakland Athletics	51	63	.447	1	24‍–‍32	27‍–‍31
Seattle Mariners	49	63	.438	2	22‍–‍22	27‍–‍41
California Angels	47	68	.409	5½	23‍–‍40	24‍–‍28

• v
• t
• e

Division leaders

Team	W	L	Pct.
New York Yankees	70	43	.619
Chicago White Sox	67	46	.593
Texas Rangers	52	62	.456

• v
• t
• e

Wild Card team
(Top team qualifies for postseason)

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Cleveland Indians	66	47	.584	—
Baltimore Orioles	63	49	.562	2½
Kansas City Royals	64	51	.557	3
Toronto Blue Jays	55	60	.478	12
Boston Red Sox	54	61	.470	13
Minnesota Twins	53	60	.469	13
Detroit Tigers	53	62	.461	14
Milwaukee Brewers	53	62	.461	14
Oakland Athletics	51	63	.447	15½
Seattle Mariners	49	63	.438	16½
California Angels	47	68	.409	20

Record vs. opponents

1994 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	4–2	8–4	2–4	4–6	3–4	4–1	7–3	4–5	4–6	7–5	4–6	3–3	7–2
Boston	2–4	—	7–5	2–4	3–7	4–2	4–2	5–5	1–8	3–7	9–3	6–6	1–5	7–3
California	4–8	5–7	—	5–5	0–5	3–4	6–4	3–3	3–3	4–8	3–6	2–7	6–4	3–4
Chicago	4–2	4–2	5–5	—	7–5	8–4	3–7	9–3	2–4	4–2	6–3	9–1	4–5	2–3
Cleveland	6–4	7–3	5–0	5–7	—	8–2	1–4	5–2	9–3	0–9	6–0	3–2	5–7	6–4
Detroit	4–3	2–4	4–3	4–8	2–8	—	4–8	6–4	3–3	3–3	5–4	6–3	5–7	5–4
Kansas City	1–4	2–4	4–6	7–3	4–1	8–4	—	5–7	6–4	4–2	7–3	6–4	4–3	6–6
Milwaukee	3–7	5–5	3–3	3–9	2–5	4–6	7–5	—	6–6	2–7	4–1	4–2	3–3	7–3
Minnesota	5–4	8–1	3–3	4–2	3–9	3–3	4–6	6–6	—	4–5	2–5	3–3	4–5	4–8
New York	6–4	7–3	8–4	2–4	9–0	3–3	2–4	7–2	5–4	—	7–5	8–4	3–2	3–4
Oakland	5–7	3–9	6–3	3–6	0–6	4–5	3–7	1–4	5–2	5–7	—	4–3	7–3	5–1
Seattle	4–6	6–6	7–2	1–9	2–3	3–6	4–6	2–4	3–3	4–8	3–4	—	9–1	1–5
Texas	3–3	5–1	4–6	5–4	7–5	7–5	3–4	3–3	5–4	2–3	3–7	1–9	—	4–8
Toronto	2–7	3–7	4–3	3–2	4–6	4–5	6–6	3–7	8–4	4–3	1–5	5–1	8–4	—

Transactions

• April 1: Torey Lovullo was selected off waivers from the California Angels.^[19]
• April 3: Goose Gossage was signed as a free agent.^[20]
• April 29: Bobby Thigpen was released.^[9]
• May 6: Mackey Sasser was released.^[21]
• June 2: Jason Varitek was selected in the first round (14th pick) of the 1994 amateur draft, and signed April 20, 1995.^[22]

Roster

1994 Seattle Mariners
Roster
Pitchers 13 Bobby Ayala 29 Chris Bosio 34 Shawn Boskie 25 Jim Converse 44 John Cummings 42 Jeff Darwin 47 Tim Davis 35 Dave Fleming 26 George Glinatsis 54 Goose Gossage 37 Greg Hibbard 41 Milt Hill 51 Randy Johnson 50 Kevin King 43 Jeff Nelson 12 Erik Plantenberg 55 Bill Risley 22 Roger Salkeld 31 Bobby Thigpen 46 Bob Wells		Catchers 33 Bill Haselman 45 Chris Howard 15 Mackey Sasser 31 Jerry Willard  6 Dan Wilson Infielders  8 Rich Amaral 16 Mike Blowers 40 Darren Bragg 10 Félix Fermín 18 Reggie Jefferson 27 Torey Lovullo 11 Edgar Martínez 20 Greg Pirkl  3 Alex Rodriguez 36 Dale Sveum  9 Luis Sojo		Outfielders  5 Eric Anthony 19 Jay Buhner 24 Ken Griffey Jr. 34 Quinn Mack 17 Keith Mitchell 28 Marc Newfield  1 Brian Turang		Manager 14 Lou Piniella Coaches  4 Lee Elia 32 Sammy Ellis 30 Ken Griffey  7 John McLaren 49 Sam Mejías  2 Sam Perlozzo

Player stats

Batting

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	91	282	61	.216	3	27
1B	Tino Martinez	97	329	86	.261	20	61
2B	Rich Amaral	77	228	60	.263	4	18
SS	Felix Fermin	101	379	120	.317	1	35
3B	Edgar Martínez	89	326	93	.285	13	51
LF	Eric Anthony	79	262	62	.237	10	30
CF	Ken Griffey Jr.	111	433	140	.323	40	90
RF	Jay Buhner	101	358	100	.279	21	68
DH	Reggie Jefferson	63	162	53	.327	8	32

Source:^[23]

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
Mike Blowers	85	270	78	.289	9	49
Luis Sojo	63	213	59	.277	6	22
Keith Mitchell	46	128	29	.227	5	15
Brian Turang	38	112	21	.188	1	8
Bill Haselman	38	83	16	. 193	1	8
Torey Lovullo	36	72	16	.222	2	7
Alex Rodriguez	17	54	11	.204	0	2
Greg Pirkl	19	53	14	.264	6	11
Marc Newfield	12	38	7	.184	1	4
Dale Sveum	10	27	5	.185	1	2
Chris Howard	9	25	5	.200	0	2
Quinn Mack	5	21	5	.238	0	2
Darren Bragg	8	19	3	.158	0	2
Jerry Willard	6	5	1	.200	1	3
Mackey Sasser	3	4	0	.000	0	0

Source:^[23]

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
Randy Johnson	23	172.0	13	6	3.19	204
Chris Bosio	19	125.0	4	10	4.32	b67
Dave Fleming	23	117.0	7	11	6.46	65
Greg Hibbard	15	80.2	1	5	6.69	39
Roger Salkeld	13	59.0	2	5	7.17	46
George Glinatsis	2	5.1	0	1	13.50	1

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
John Cummings	17	64.0	2	4	5.63	33
Jim Converse	13	48.2	0	5	8.69	39
Shawn Boskie	2	2.2	0	1	6.75	0

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
Bobby Ayala	46	4	3	18	2.86	76
Tim Davis	42	2	2	2	4.01	28
Bill Risley	37	9	6	0	3.44	61
Rich Gossage	36	3	0	1	4.18	29
Jeff Nelson	28	0	0	0	2.76	44
Kevin King	19	0	2	0	7.04	6
Milt Hill	13	1	0	0	6.46	16
Bobby Thigpen	7	0	2	0	9.39	4
Erik Plantenberg	6	0	0	0	0.00	1
Jeff Darwin	2	0	0	0	13.50	1
Bob Wells	1	1	0	0	2.25	3

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Calgary Cannons	Pacific Coast League	Steve Smith
AA	Jacksonville Suns	Southern League	Marc Hill
A	Riverside Pilots	California League	Dave Myers
A	Appleton Foxes	Midwest League	Carlos Lezcano
A-Short Season	Bellingham Mariners	Northwest League	Mike Goff
Rookie	AZL Mariners	Arizona League	Marty Martínez

Source:^[24]