The Kingdome hosted its final two games in postseason history on the first Wednesday and Thursday of October, and after two consecutive days of 9-3 losses and general torching of Seattle pitching by Cal Ripken Jr. (five hits) and friends, it was sort of good-riddance at that point. Construction was underway on new Safeco Field, which was coming during the '99 season, and Seattle was out in four games.

Alex Rodriguez hit a solo homer off Armando Benitez in the ninth inning of Game 1, which mattered little to the final score but marked his first postseason longball. The young Seattle shortstop batted .313 (5-for-16) in his first full postseason series, having seen two at-bats in the '95 postseason as a rookie.

Back-to-back solo homers by Jay Buhner and Paul Sorrento in the top of the ninth were enough to give Seattle a 4-2 win in Game 3 across the country at Camden Yards, but in the clincher, Mike Mussina outdueled Randy Johnson, who was tagged with his second loss in the series. Mussina finished with 16 strikeouts, a 2-0 record and 1.93 ERA in the series.

Baltimore was headed to its second consecutive ALCS, this time against Cleveland.

Path to the ALDS:?Baltimore (98-64) won the AL East by two games; Seattle (90-72) won the AL West by six games

Managers: Davey Johnson, BAL; Lou Piniella, SEA