MLB Network Presents: The 1995 Mariners, Saving Baseball in Seattle Premieres

on Sunday, July 7 at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.

June 20, 2019 – As the Seattle Mariners entered its 19th season in 1995, the organization faced a crossroads. Since joining the American League as an expansion team in 1977, the Mariners had never made the Postseason; its home ballpark, the Kingdome, was aging; and there was a strong possibility that the team would leave Seattle. Enter Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, and the 1995 AL West champion Mariners, who helped usher in a new era of Mariners baseball. Narrated by GRAMMY® award-winning artist, Seattle native, and lifelong Mariners fan Macklemore, MLB Network Presents: The 1995 Mariners, Saving Baseball in Seattle looks back at the team that helped keep baseball in the Pacific Northwest. A trailer for the film, which premieres on Sunday, July 7 at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT, can be viewed here.

Former 1995 Mariners featuring Griffey, Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, Joey Cora, Tino Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Dan Wilson, Mike Blowers and Doug Strange, each describe how the team persevered through pivotal moments during the season, including losing Griffey to a broken wrist for three months, and believing in manager Lou Piniella’s “Refuse to Lose” attitude. A proposal for a new ballpark failed on September 19, making it look like 1995 would be baseball’s last season in Seattle. Led by Johnson’s power-pitching and a lineup that boasted 54 total career All-Star appearances, the film explains how an electric home-field atmosphere at the Kingdome helped galvanize Seattle in erasing a 13-game deficit to win the AL West and beat the New York Yankees in the ALDS when Griffey famously raced home with the winning run. “Without that ’95 team, there wouldn’t be baseball right now in Seattle,” recalls Cora.

Former two-time Mariners All-Star Harold Reynolds, former Mariners CEO John Ellis, longtime Mariners broadcaster Rick Rizzs, veteran radio host Dave Grosby, and former King County executive Gary Locke offer behind-the-scenes perspectives that detail the Mariners’ turnaround from years of futility to the opening of Safeco Field (now known as T-Mobile Park) in 1999, ensuring the team’s long-term future in Seattle.  

Launched in January 2015, MLB Network Presents has produced programs covering many subjects across baseball, including the Emmy-nominated The Story of Billy Bean as well as Alex Cora, The Making of a Champion, Bench, Eck: A Story of Saving, Only in Hollywood, Mr. Padre, Billy, The Swingin' A's, Mike Trout: Millville to MVP, The Bird, and The Colorful Montreal Expos.