Happy 30th to Edgar Martínez, Ken Griffey Jr. and the double that saved the Mariners

Although they may not make it every year, the Mariners have been a consistent regular season contender over the past few years. With certified stars like Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez, the team has amassed quite the following and has become a force to be reckoned with. However, without the efforts of a few players 30 years ago, there's a chance that baseball in the city of Seattle would never have gotten to this point.

Major League Baseball in the Pacific Northwest got off to a rough start with the Seattle Pilots surviving just one year before moving to Milwaukee and becoming the now immensely successful Brewers. Even after the Mariners played their first season in 1977, it would take them 18 seasons of languishing at the bottom of the standings before they got their first big break. By 1995, the organization had found their core in Randy Johnson, Edgar Martínez, and Ken Griffey Jr., all three of whom would become Hall of Famers.

But the city and its constituents had grown tired of waiting. Years of mediocrity and financial struggles provided little hope that things would turn around and after the Kingdome began to literally fall apart, ownership decided that they'd either get public funding to build a new stadium or relocate entirely. Since the Mariners had nothing to show by way of accolades, Seattle residents voted against a one percent increase in sales tax to fund the new stadium in September 1995, seemingly sealing the organization's fate.

It's been 30 years since the 1995 Mariners saved baseball in Seattle

But things have a funny way of working out. In the midst of all this discourse, the Mariners were mounting an unthinkable comeback in the standings. At the beginning of August, they were 13 games out of first place, but regained momentum at the exact time the division-leading California Angels were having a collapse of historic proportions. The two teams eventually met in a tiebreaker game where, through the Herculean efforts of Randy Johnson, the Mariners clinched a playoff berth for the first time.

After losing the first two games of the ALDS to the Yankees, it seemed like the team was simply delaying their execution, but they came back and eventually forced a decisive Game 5. A task that required the combined might of the aforementioned triumvirate of franchise and baseball legends culminated in a double down the left field line in the bottom of the 11th to give the Mariners a 6-5 win and Mariners fans one of Dave Niehaus' most emotional calls.

This fairy tale was enough to reverse public sentiment surrounding the franchise and shortly after, the Washington State Legislature held a special session to approve funding for the construction of a new ballpark, resulting in Safeco Field, now known as T-Mobile Park.

It's an unlikely story straight out of a Hollywood screenplay, but the history of the Mariners is full of unbelievable circumstances. Edgar, while preferring to stay out of the spotlight, has never been far from the only team he ever played for in his illustrious career. These days, you can thank him for helping to revitalize what was once a sagging offense and because of his contributions both past and present, the city of Seattle remains home to one of MLB's most electric teams.