Ranking the 5 best ALDS performances in Seattle Mariners history

Of all the things you can say to the Seattle Mariners right now, "no pressure" is not one of them. After sitting out the first round, they're ready to get their playoffs started in the ALDS against the Detroit Tigers — and the hope in Seattle is for nothing less than a World Series appearance.

What would help, of course, is if the Mariners got some performances worthy of the best the franchise has ever gotten in the postseason. And when it comes to the American League Division Series in particular, there are some hard acts to follow.

Albeit with an acknowledgment that the list is heavy on entries from 1995, here are the five best ALDS performances in Mariners history.

Ranking the best ALDS performances in Mariners history, from No. 5 to No. 1

5. Jamie Moyer, 2001

Stats vs. Cleveland Guardians: 2-0, 12.0 IP, 8 H (0 HR), 10 K, 2 BB, 1.50 ERA

If anyone had completely forgotten about this one, well, that's what tends to happen when a 116-win team enters the playoffs and somehow stops short of going to the World Series.

It really could have been worse for the 2001 Mariners, though, and Moyer is a big reason why it wasn't. He got the ball for Games 1 and 5 of the ALDS against Cleveland and gave the Mariners six innings of one-run ball both times. He really had to bear down in the decisive fifth game, in which he only got two runs of support while he was on the mound.

4. Ichiro Suzuki, 2001

Stats vs. Cleveland Guardians: 12-for-20, 1 2B, 4 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB

The 2001 season didn't actually end well for Ichiro, who largely went silent against the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series. He went just 4-for-18 as the Mariners dropped the best-of-seven contest in five games.

Before that, though, the ALDS was a continuation of what had been Ichiro's year in baseball — at least on the American League side. He collected multiple hits in four of the five games, with his total tally of 12 equaling a Division Series record that still stands nearly a quarter-century later.

3. Randy Johnson, 1995

Stats vs. New York Yankees: 2-0, 10.0 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 16 K, 6 BB, 2.70 ERA

It was largely because of the "Big Unit" that the 1995 Mariners were able to make the playoffs in the first place. He was at the tip of the spear for their incredible comeback at the end of the regular season, with the Mariners winning all 10 of his final starts. The last of those saw him blank the then-California Angels in a tie-breaker game to determine the AL West title.

That unfortunately required Johnson to sit until Game 3 of the ALDS, but he kept delivering with seven innings of two-run ball to get the Mariners out of a 2-0 hole to the Yankees. And after resting for one day, he came out of the bullpen in Game 5 and only gave up one run in three innings of work.

He ultimately emerged as the winning pitcher thanks to the next guy on this list.

2. Edgar Martínez, 1995

Stats vs. New York Yankees: 12-for-21, 3 2B, 2 HR, 6 R, 10 RBI, 6 BB

Martínez would arguably deserve a spot on this list even if all we were counting was his last hit of the 1995 ALDS. "The Double" not only won the series for the Mariners, but also quite literally saved baseball in Seattle.

Of course, Martínez terrorized the Yankees in the rest of the series as well. He became the first hitter to ever rack up over 10 RBIs in the Division Series — this was its inaugural year — and his 12 hits remain a record that he shares with Ichiro.

1. Ken Griffey Jr., 1995

Stats vs. New York Yankees: 9-for-23, 5 HR, 9 R, 7 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB

It was Griffey who quite famously scored the winning run on Martínez's double, for which he had turn his jets all the way up to get from first to home. And even before that, he had started a game-tying rally in the eighth inning with his fifth home run of the series.

Griffey was the first player to hit five homers in a Division Series, and still one of only two players to do so three decades later. His nine runs scored likewise give him a share of an all-time DS record, and only he and Carlos Beltrán have ever topped nine runs and seven RBI in a single Division Series.