List of Seattle Mariners Opening Day starting pitchers

Félix Hernández, the 2007 and 2009-2014 Opening Day starter

The Seattle Mariners are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Seattle, Washington. They play in the American League West division. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starter is an honor, which is often given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season,^[1] though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day.^[2] The Mariners have used 15 different Opening Day starting pitchers in their 34 seasons. The 15 starters have a combined Opening Day record of 11 wins, 11 losses (11–11) and 12 no decisions.^[3] No decisions are only awarded to the starting pitcher if the game is won or lost after the starting pitcher has left the game.

Felix Hernandez has the Mariners' record for most Opening Day starts with seven, recording a record of 5–0. Randy Johnson has the most starts in the former home ballpark of the Mariners, the Kingdome, compiling an Opening Day record of 2–0 in 6 starts. Jamie Moyer has the most starts in Safeco Field, the Mariners' current home ballpark, and has an Opening Day record of 1–2. Mark Langston has the worst winning percentage as the Opening Day starting pitcher with a record of 0–3, all of which were pitched on the road.^[3]

Overall, the Mariners have a record of 6–4 at the Kingdome on Opening Day, compared to a 2–3 record at Safeco Field, making their combined home record 8–7, and their away record 3–4.^[3] The Mariners went on to play in the American League Division Series (ALDS) playoff games in 1995, 1997, 2000, and 2001. Randy Johnson, Jeff Fassero and Freddy García were the Opening Day starting pitchers those years, and had a combined Opening Day record of 2–0.^[4]

Key

Season	Each year is linked to an article about that particular Mariners season.
W	Win
L	Loss
ND (W)	No decision by starting pitcher; Mariners won game
ND (L)	No decision by starting pitcher; Mariners lost game
Pitcher (#)	Number of appearances as Opening Day starter with the Mariners
*	Advanced to the ALDS

Pitchers

Jamie Moyer, the 2000 and 2004–2006 Opening Day starter

Randy Johnson, the 1992–1996 and 1998 Opening Day starter

Season	Pitcher	Decision	Opponent	Location	Ref(s)
1977	Seguí, DiegoDiego Seguí	L	California Angels	Kingdome	[3][5]
1978	Abbott, GlennGlenn Abbott	W	Minnesota Twins	Kingdome	[3][4]
1979	Abbott, GlennGlenn Abbott (2)	ND (W)	California Angels	Kingdome	[3][4]
1980	Parrott, MikeMike Parrott	W	Toronto Blue Jays	Kingdome	[3]
1981	Abbott, GlennGlenn Abbott (3)	L	California Angels	Kingdome	[3][4]
1982	Bannister, FloydFloyd Bannister	W	Minnesota Twins	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome	[3]
1983	Perry, GaylordGaylord Perry	ND (W)	New York Yankees	Kingdome	[3]
1984	Moore, MikeMike Moore	ND (W)	Toronto Blue Jays	Kingdome	[3]
1985	Moore, MikeMike Moore (2)	W	Oakland Athletics	Kingdome	[3]
1986	Moore, MikeMike Moore (3)	ND (W)	California Angels	Kingdome	[3]
1987	Langston, MarkMark Langston	L	California Angels	Anaheim Stadium	[3][4]
1988	Langston, MarkMark Langston (2)	L	Oakland Athletics	Network Associates Coliseum	[3][4]
1989	Langston, MarkMark Langston (3)	L	Oakland Athletics	Network Associates Coliseum	[3][4]
1990	Holman, BrianBrian Holman	W	California Angels	Kingdome	[3]
1991	Hanson, ErikErik Hanson	L	California Angels	Kingdome	[3]
1992	Johnson, RandyRandy Johnson	ND (L)	Texas Rangers	Kingdome	[3]
1993	Johnson, RandyRandy Johnson (2)	W	Toronto Blue Jays	Kingdome	[3]
1994	Johnson, RandyRandy Johnson (3)	ND (L)	Cleveland Indians	Jacobs Field	[6]
1995*	Johnson, RandyRandy Johnson (4)	W	Detroit Tigers	Kingdome	[3]
1996	Johnson, RandyRandy Johnson (5)	ND (W)	Chicago White Sox	Kingdome	[3][7]
1997*	Fassero, JeffJeff Fassero	W	New York Yankees	Kingdome	[8]
1998	Johnson, RandyRandy Johnson (6)	ND (L)	Cleveland Indians	Kingdome	[9]
1999	Fassero, JeffJeff Fassero (2)	L	Chicago White Sox	Kingdome	[3]
2000*	Moyer, JamieJamie Moyer	L	Boston Red Sox	Safeco Field	[10]
2001*	García, FreddyFreddy García	ND (W)	Oakland Athletics	Safeco Field	[3][4]
2002	García, FreddyFreddy García (2)	L	Chicago White Sox	Safeco Field	[11]
2003	García, FreddyFreddy García (3)	L	Oakland Athletics	Network Associates Coliseum	[3][4]
2004	Moyer, JamieJamie Moyer (2)	L	Anaheim Angels	Safeco Field	[4]
2005	Moyer, JamieJamie Moyer (3)	W	Minnesota Twins	Safeco Field	[12]
2006	Moyer, JamieJamie Moyer (4)	ND (L)	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	Safeco Field	[13]
2007	Hernández, FélixFélix Hernández	W	Oakland Athletics	Safeco Field	[14]
2008	Bédard, ÉrikÉrik Bédard	ND (W)	Texas Rangers	Safeco Field	[15][16]
2009	Hernández, FélixFélix Hernández (2)	W	Minnesota Twins	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome	[17]
2010	Hernández, FélixFélix Hernández (3)	ND (W)	Oakland Athletics	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum	[18]
2011	Hernández, FélixFélix Hernández (4)	W	Oakland Athletics	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum	[19]
2012	Hernández, FélixFélix Hernández (5)	ND (W)	Oakland Athletics	Tokyo Dome	[20]
2013	Hernández, FélixFélix Hernández (6)	W	Oakland Athletics	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum	[21]
2014	Hernández, FélixFélix Hernández (7)	W	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	Angel Stadium of Anaheim	[22]
2015	Hernández, FélixFélix Hernández (8)	W	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	Safeco Field
2016	Hernández, FélixFélix Hernández (9)	L	Texas Rangers	Globe Life Park in Arlington

References

1. Bastian, Jordan (March 22, 2010). "Marcum tapped for Jays' Opening Day". MLB.com. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
2. Dilbeck, Steve (February 24, 2014). "Dodgers may not start Clayton Kershaw in Sydney". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
3. "Seattle Mariners Opening Day Starters and Results". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
4. "Mariners Opening Day records". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 2004-04-06. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
5. "Home, sweet home: Seattle openers have been good to M's". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 8 April 2003. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
6. Street, Jim (5 April 1994). "Opening Day Johnson's no-hit bid falls short Mariners fall 4-3 to Indians in 11th as bullpen falters". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
7. Newnham, Blaine (31 March 1996). "It's Opening Day -- Warming Up For The M's". Seattle Times. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
8. Finnigan, Bob (2 April 1997). "Opening Day -- M's 4, Yankees 2 -- Griffey Hammers A Tribute -- Two Home Runs Will Stand As Slugger's Effort To Honor Robinson On Anniversary". Seattle Times. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
9. Finnigan, Bob (1 April 1998). "Opening Day / Cleveland 10, Seattle 9 -- Poison Pen -- Nine Runs Aren't Enough As Mariner Relievers Blow Big Lead". Seattle Times. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
10. Finnigan, Bob (22 February 2000). "M's name Moyer for Opening Day start". Seattle Times. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
11. "Opening day: M's lose 6-5 as rally falls short". by the Associated Press. 1 April 2002. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
12. Hickey, John (5 April 2005). "M's start season with a bang". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
13. Hickey, John (4 April 2006). "Opening Day: Signs of life in M's loss". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
14. Baker, Geoff (2 April 2007). "It's Felix for M's on opening day". Seattle Times. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
15. Associated Press (13 February 2008). "Bedard to be Mariners' opening day starter". USA Today. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
16. "Mariners win opener with sound pitching, key hits". ESPN. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
17. "Seattle 6, Minnesota 1". Yahoo!. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
18. "Seattle 5, Oakland 3". Yahoo!. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
19. "Seattle 6, Oakland 2". MLB. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
20. "Ackley, Ichiro unstoppable in Mariners' win". Seattle Mariners. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
21. "Felix in fine form as Mariners blank A's in opener". Seattle Mariners. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
22. "Mariners 10, Angels 3". ESPN. Retrieved 6 April 2014.