<P> Through the 2017 season, the franchise has finished with a losing record in 28 of 41 seasons . The Mariners are one of seven Major League Baseball teams who have never won a World Series championship, and one of two (along with the Washington Nationals) never to have played in a World Series . With the National Football League's Buffalo Bills ending their 17 - year playoff drought on December 31, 2017, the Mariners now hold the longest playoff drought in all of the four major North American professional sports, having not qualified for the playoffs since 2001 . </P> <P> The Mariners were created as a result of a lawsuit . In 1970, in the aftermath of the Seattle Pilots' purchase and relocation to Milwaukee as the Milwaukee Brewers by Bud Selig, the city of Seattle, King County, and the state of Washington (represented by then - state attorney general Slade Gorton) sued the American League for breach of contract . Confident that Major League Baseball would return to Seattle within a few years, King County built the multi-purpose Kingdome, which would become home to the National Football League is expansion Seattle Seahawks in 1976 . The name "Mariners" was chosen by club officials in August 1976 from over 600 names submitted by 15,000 entrants in a name - the - team contest . </P> <P> The Mariners played their first game on April 6, 1977, to a sold - out crowd of 57,762 at the Kingdome, losing 7--0 to the California Angels . The first home run in team history was hit on April 10, 1977, by designated hitter Juan Bernhardt . That year, star pitcher Diego Seguí, in his last major league season, became the only player to play for both the Pilots and the Mariners . The Mariners finished with a 64--98 record, echoing the record the 1969 Pilots once held . In 1979, Seattle hosted the 50th Major League Baseball All - Star Game . After the 1981 season, the Mariners were sold to California businessman George Argyros, who in turn sold the team to Jeff Smulyan in 1989, and then to Nintendo of America in 1992 . </P> <P> During the 1992--93 offseason, the Mariners hired manager Lou Piniella, who had led the Cincinnati Reds to victory in the 1990 World Series . Mariner fans embraced Piniella, and he would helm the team from 1993 through 2002, winning two American League Manager of the Year Awards along the way . </P>

Which major league baseball team did nintendo become majority owner of in 1992