The Seattle Mariners season was their twelfth since the franchise creation and their home ballpark was the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington. The M's finished seventh (last) in the American League West with a record of . Manager Dick Williams, who later was inducted into the Hall of Fame, was fired in early June; first base coach Jim Snyder was promoted to interim manager in his only season as an MLB manager.

Offseason December 9, 1987: Phil Bradley and Tim Fortugno acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies for Glenn Wilson, Mike Jackson, and Dave Brundage. December 9: Mike Morgan traded to the Baltimore Orioles for Ken Dixon. December 21: John Moses was released by the Mariners. December 22: Lee Guetterman, Clay Parker, and Wade Taylor traded to the New York Yankees for Steve Trout and Henry Cotto. January 11, 1998: Brian Giles signed as a free agent. January 19: John Rabb signed as a free agent with the Mariners. February 3: Received Dave Cochrane in a trade with the Kansas City Royals for Ken Spratke. March 19: Received Rod Scurry in a trade with the San Francisco Giants for a player to be named later (Donell Nixon on June 23).

Regular season Opening Day lineup Mickey Brantley, center field Mike Kingery, left field Alvin Davis, first base Ken Phelps, designated hitter Glenn Wilson, right field Dave Valle, catcher Jim Presley, third base Rey Quiñones, shortstop Harold Reynolds, second base Mark Langston, starting pitcher

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Season summary The Mariners started the season on a high point, sharing a lead in the American League West and having a winning record at 4–3 in mid-April. They fell to last place briefly on May 1 and were entrenched in seventh place by mid-June. Mark Langston became the ace of the pitching staff as he led the club in wins (15) and strikeouts (235). He was named the American League (AL) Pitcher of the Month in August after going 4–1 with three complete games. Manager Dick Williams was fired on June 6, first base coach Jim Snyder was promoted to interim manager. Seattle acquired future Mariners Hall of Famer Jay Buhner from the New York Yankees in a trade for Ken Phelps. Four Mariners were named the AL Player of the Week. First baseman Alvin Davis won in May, second baseman Harold Reynolds won in August, and pitchers Mike Moore and Langston each won in September. Langston and Reynolds won Gold Glove Awards. Reynolds tied for the AL lead with 11 triples but also led MLB with 29 times caught stealing. He was the Mariners representative in the All-Star Game.

Notable transactions May 23, 1988: John Christensen was released by the Mariners.John Christensen page at Baseball Reference June 1: Steve Balboni signed as a free agent with the Mariners.Steve Balboni page at Baseball Reference June 1: 1988 MLB draft. The following players signed with the Mariners: Tino Martinez was selected with the 14th overall pick in the first round and signed on June 11. Greg Pirkl was drafted in the second round and signed on June 6. Lee Hancock was selected in the fourth round. Jeff Darwin was selected in the 13th round. July 21: Ken Phelps was traded to the New York Yankees for Jay Buhner, Rich Balabon, and a player to be named later (Troy Evers, on October 12). July 22: Glenn Wilson was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Darnell Coles.Darnell Coles page at Baseball Reference

Major League debuts Batters: Greg Briley (June 27) Bill McGuire (Aug 2) Pitchers: Erik Hanson (Sep 5) Mike Schooler (June 10) Terry Taylor (Aug 19)

1988 roster 1988 Seattle Mariners Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats = Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position 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 103 335 86 .257 4 33 1B 140 478 141 .295 18 69 2B 158 598 169 .283 4 41 3B 150 544 125 .230 14 62 SS 140 499 124 .248 12 52 LF 149 577 152 .263 15 56 CF 133 386 100 .259 8 33 RF 78 284 71 .250 3 17 DH 72 190 54 .284 14 32

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 Steve Balboni 97 350 88 .251 21 61 Dave Valle 93 290 67 .231 10 50 Darnell Coles 55 195 57 .292 10 34 Jay Buhner 60 192 43 .224 10 25 Mike Kingery 57 123 25 .203 1 9 31 88 18 .205 0 6 Mario Díaz 28 72 22 .306 0 9 Bruce Fields 39 67 18 .269 1 5 Dave Hengel 26 60 10 .167 2 7 Greg Briley 13 36 9 .250 1 4 Edgar Martínez 14 32 9 .281 0 5 Bill McGuire 9 16 3 .188 0 2 9 14 5 .357 0 4 Brick Smith 4 10 1 .100 0 1

Pitching

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 35 261.1 15 11 3.34 235 37 228.2 9 15 3.78 182 38 174.2 8 12 4.59 47 21 135.0 7 9 3.07 102 20 114.2 6 10 5.89 63 15 56.1 4 7 7.83 14 6 41.2 2 3 3.24 36 5 23.0 0 1 6.26 9

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 Edwin Núñez 14 29.1 1 4 7.98 19 Dennis Powell 12 18.2 1 3 8.68 15

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 40 5 8 15 3.54 54 Mike Jackson 62 6 5 4 2.63 76 Jerry Reed 46 1 1 1 3.96 48 Rod Scurry 39 0 2 2 4.02 33 Bill Wilkinson 30 2 2 2 3.48 25 Julio Solano 17 0 0 3 4.09 10 Gene Walter 16 1 0 0 5.13 13

Farm system

AZL club affiliation shared with Boston Red SoxJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

External links 1988 Seattle Mariners at Baseball Reference 1988 Seattle Mariners team page at www.baseball-almanac.com