<P> The organization did not field a winning team until 1991, and any real success eluded them until 1995 when they won their first division championship and defeated the New York Yankees in the ALDS . The game - winning hit in Game 5, in which Edgar Martínez drove home Ken Griffey Jr. 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 . </P> <P> The Mariners 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 . </P> <P> Through the 2016 season, the franchise has finished with a losing record in 27 of 40 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 . </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 NFL's 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>

When was the last time the mariners went to the world series