Pair of Seattle Mariners Legends Still Stand atop Awesome List in Baseball History
The Cleveland Guardians beat the Detroit Tigers on Saturday afternoon to win the American League Division Series in five games. With the win, the Guardians are advancing to the American League Championship Series. They will meet the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven series beginning on Monday.
Part of the reason for the Guardians victory is the offensive ability of leadoff man Steven Kwan. The diminuitive lefty hit .524 for the ALDS, registering 11 hits in total.
That put him just shy of a pair of Mariners legends in playoff history, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.
most hits in best-of-5 postseason series:
2001 ALDS Ichiro Suzuki: 12
1995 ALDS Edgar Martínez: 12
2024 ALDS Steven Kwan: 11
1995 ALDS Jay Buhner: 11
1995 NLDS Marquis Grissom: 11
1982 ALCS Fred Lynn: 11
1976 ALCS Chris Chambliss: 11
most hits in best-of-5 postseason series:
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 12, 2024
2001 ALDS Ichiro Suzuki: 12
1995 ALDS Edgar Martínez: 12
2024 ALDS Steven Kwan: 11
1995 ALDS Jay Buhner: 11
1995 NLDS Marquis Grissom: 11
1982 ALCS Fred Lynn: 11
1976 ALCS Chris Chambliss: 11
For Ichiro, that 2001 ALDS was his first exposure to playoff baseball in the United States. The Mariners beat the Guardians (Indians) in that series before advancing to the American League Championship Series.
One of the best pure hitters in baseball history, Ichiro amassed 3,089 hits in his United States career. He was a lifetime .311 hitter who stole 509 career bases.
Ichiro won a laundry list of awards including Rookie of the Year (2001) and MVP (2001). He was a two-time batting champion, a 10-time Gold Glover, a 10-time All-Star and a three-time Silver Slugger.
He played parts of 14 seasons with the Mariners, three with the Yankees and three with the Marlins. Remarkably durable throughout his career, he never played less than 136 games in a season until age 44.
He still works with the Mariners organization and will earn election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot. The voting results come out in January of 2025.
As for Martinez, that 1995 ALDS was against the Yankees. The Mariners overcame a 2-0 series deficit to win that series thanks in part to a Martinez 10-RBI game in Game 4 and his walk-off double in Game 5.
Martinez spent 18 years in the big leagues, all with Seattle. He was a seven-time All-Star and a two-time batting champion who had a lifetime on-base percentage of .418. He is also a Hall of Famer. He has acted as the team's hitting coach on two separate occasions.
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