Seattle Mariners

United States

Founded

1977

Arena

T-Mobile Park · 47,943 cap

The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team in 1977, playing their home games in the Kingdome. Since July 1999, the Mariners' home ballpark has been T-Mobile Park, located in the SoDo neighborhood of Seattle. The "Mariners" name originates from the prominence of marine culture in the city of Seattle. They are nicknamed the M's, a title featured in their primary logo from 1987 to 1992. They adopted their current team colors – navy blue, northwest green (teal), and silver – prior to the 1993 season, after having been royal blue and gold since the team's inception; the original colors continue to be used in alternate uniforms. Their mascot is the Mariner Moose. The Mariners did not field a winning team until 1991, and further success eluded them until the late 90s, the most successful period in franchise history. Led by Hall of Fame players Edgar Martínez, Ken Griffey Jr., and Randy Johnson, the Mariners clinched their first playoff berth in 1995 when they won their first division championship and defeated the New York Yankees in the ALDS. Martínez's walk-off double in Game 5 drove Griffey in from first base to win the game in the 11th inning, clinched a series win for the Mariners, served as a powerful impetus to preserve baseball in Seattle, and has since become an iconic moment in team history. They would later win their second division title in 1997. After Griffey, Johnson, and Alex Rodriguez all left the team, the Mariners, bolstered by the signing of Ichiro Suzuki, won 116 games in 2001, which set the American League record for most wins in a single season and tied the 1906 Chicago Cubs for the Major League record for most wins in a single season. The team would not make the postseason again until 2022, which was the longest active drought in the four major North American sports. As of 2024, the franchise has finished with a losing record in 30 of 48 seasons. The Mariners are the only active MLB franchise never to have appeared in the World Series, currently holding the longest active World Series appearance drought in MLB.

Chicago White Sox

United States

Founded

1901

Arena

Guaranteed Rate Field · 40,600 cap

The Chicago White Sox are a professional baseball team located in the south side of Chicago, Illinois. The White Sox are members of the Central Division in the Major League Baseball's American League. Since 1991, the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed "The Cell" by local fans. The White Sox are one of two major league clubs based in Chicago, the other being the Chicago Cubs of the National League. The White Sox last won the World Series in 2005. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Chicago team was established as a major league baseball club in 1900. The club was originally called the Chicago White Stockings, after the nickname abandoned by the Cubs, and the name was soon shortened to Chicago White Sox, believed to have been because the paper would shorten it to Sox in the headlines. At this time, the team played their home games at South Side Park. In 1910, the team moved into historic Comiskey Park, which they would inhabit for more than eight decades. The White Sox were a strong team during their first two decades, winning the 1906 World Series with a defense-oriented team dubbed "the Hitless Wonders", and the 1917 World Series led by Eddie Cicotte, Eddie Collins, and Shoeless Joe Jackson. The 1919 World Series, however, was marred by the Black Sox Scandal, in which several prominent members of the White Sox (including Cicotte and Jackson) were accused of conspiring with gamblers to lose games purposefully. Baseball's new commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis took decisive action, banning the tainted players from Major League Baseball for life. Decades of mediocrity followed for the White Sox until the 1950s, when perennially competitive teams were blocked from the pennant by the dynastic New York Yankees, with the exception of the 1959 pennant winners led by Early Wynn, Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio, and manager Al Lopez. The White Sox did not win the pennant again until the 2005 season, when they also went on to win their first World Series championship in 88 years.