The Mariners lineup from their last postseason game is a blast from the past

The Seattle Mariners’ postseason drought is now 19 seasons, and a look at the lineup from their last playoff gamer shows just how long ago that was.

The Seattle Mariners were idle on Thursday night, but they still took a notable ‘L’. With wins by the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros to clinch or bolster their odds for a playoff spot respectively, the Mariners’ playoff drought will now extend to 19 seasons. That’s the longest playoff drought in the four major North American sports.

The Mariners last made the playoffs in 2001, when they won 116 games during the regular season. They beat the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS, then bowed out to the eventual American League champion New York Yankees via five games in the ALCS.

Here’s the lineup manager Lou Piniella put out there for that Game 5 against the Yankees.

1. Ichiro Suzuki-LF
2. Mike Cameron-CF
3. Bret Boone-2B
4. Edgar Martinez-DH
5. Jay Buhner-RF
6. John Olerud-1B
7. Dan Wilson-C
8. Carlos Guillen-SS
9. David Bell-3B

Aaron Sele was the starting pitcher for the Mariners. To deepen the blast from the past, Stan Javier and Mark McLemore pinch-hit for Seattle in the game.

-Suzuki was AL MVP and Rookie of the Year in 2001 after coming over from Japan. He would play into his 40’s, with a .311 career batting average and 3,089 career major league hits.
-Cameron has a son, Daz Cameron, who currently plays for the Detroit Tigers.
-Boone was an All-Star for the Mariners in 2001 and 2003, but faded quickly in 2005 and never played again.
-Martinez, one of the best DHs ever, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019.
-Buhner, one of the most notable Mariners through the 1990s, never played again after only playing 19 regular season games in 2001.
-Olerud, best-known for his time with the Toronto Blue Jays, spent two-plus seasons more with the Mariners after 2001 then retired after the 2005 campaign.
-Bell is currently the manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

The Mariners followed 2001 with back-to-back 93-win campaigns, but since finishing three games back in the AL West in 2003 they haven’t won more than 90 games or been particularly close to making the playoffs. This short season with more playoff teams allowed them to stay mathematically alive in the race into the final week, but it’ll be another October with no postseason baseball in Seattle.