Impact
The Angels' defeat in the tiebreaker marked a continuation of the team's struggles at the time. It was the closest the Angels would come to reaching the postseason during their playoff drought that lasted from 1986 to 2002, when they won the AL Wild Card and ultimately the World Series.
The game was a stepping stone in what is widely regarded in Seattle as the most memorable season in Mariners franchise history. Having secured their first ever postseason berth, the Mariners went on to play the New York Yankees in the first American League Division Series played under the present-day format. They would defeat the Yankees in Game 5 of the ALDS, on the heels of Edgar MartÃnez' game-winning double, but ultimately were defeated by the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series.
The game marked the beginning of the most successful era in Seattle franchise history, as they would go on to win AL West division championships again in 1997 and 2001, and an AL Wild Card berth in 2000. However, they failed to reach the World Series each time and remain one of two MLB franchises to never reach the Fall Classic, along with the Washington Nationals.
Off the field, the Mariners' AL West championship as well as its memorable run in the postseason served as a catalyst for public funding for a new ballpark. Less than two weeks before the tiebreaker, the residents of King County, Washington (whose county seat is Seattle) voted against a sales tax increase to fund a new stadium, but shortly after their ALDS victory, the Washington State Legislature reconvened and approved a separate funding package for a new stadium. The new stadium, now called Safeco Field, opened in July 1999.
The two franchises' fortunes were reversed beginning in 2002 and continuing to the present day, as the Angels rose to the most successful era in their history by winning the aforementioned World Series and five division titles while the Mariners returned to the bottom of the division standings for most of those years (the only exceptions being in 2002 when they finished a close third and 2003 and 2007, when they finished second).
Read more about this topic: 1995 American League West Tie-breaker Game
Famous quotes containing the word impact:
“Too many existing classrooms for young children have this overriding goal: To get the children ready for first grade. This goal is unworthy. It is hurtful. This goal has had the most distorting impact on five-year-olds. It causes kindergartens to be merely the handmaidens of first grade.... Kindergarten teachers cannot look at their own children and plan for their present needs as five-year-olds.”
—James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)
“As in political revolutions, so in paradigm choice—there is no standard higher than the assent of the relevant community. To discover how scientific revolutions are effected, we shall therefore have to examine not only the impact of nature and of logic, but also the techniques of persuasive argumentation effective within the quite special groups that constitute the community of scientists.”
—Thomas S. Kuhn (b. 1922)
“If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn’t be here. It’d still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)