Tacoma Rainiers
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Tacoma Rainiers

The Tacoma Rainiers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They are located in Tacoma, Washington, and play their home games at Cheney Stadium, which opened in 1960. Tacoma has competed in the PCL since 1960, including the 2021 season when it was known as the Triple-A West. The team operated under several monikers before becoming the Rainiers in 1995.

Tacoma has won the PCL championship six times (1961, 1969, 1978, 2001, 2010, and 2021).

Tacoma's first team in the PCL was the Tacoma Tigers, who joined the league in 1904, having moved from Sacramento after the 1903 season. The 1904 Tigers won Tacoma's first PCL pennant, finishing first in both halves of the split season schedule, seven games (annualized) over the runner-up Los Angeles Angels. The 1905 Tigers won the first-half championship, then moved back to Sacramento, finishing out the season as the Sacramento Solons and losing the postseason series to the Angels.

The PCL did not return to Tacoma for 55 years; however, another Tacoma Tigers franchise operated in the Western International League from the 1930s through 1951. Owned by William Starr of San Diego, they were affiliated with the San Diego Padres of the PCL. The team was sold, relocated to north central Idaho, and became the Lewiston Broncs in 1952.

The current PCL franchise was founded in 1960 when the Phoenix Giants, a San Francisco Giants affiliate, moved to Tacoma and became the Tacoma Giants, the first team to play at brand-new Cheney Stadium.

The Giants' first win at Cheney Stadium came on April 16, 1960—an 11-0 victory over Portland in game two of a doubleheader. Future Hall Of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal worked the victory, giving Tacoma their first franchise shutout performance.

The 1961 iteration of the club posted a 97–57 record under manager Red Davis, who steered a team led by Gaylord Perry, Ron Herbel, Eddie Fisher, and Dick Phillips. Following a season in which he hit .264 with 16 home runs and 98 RBI, Phillips was named the 1961 PCL Most Valuable Player (MVP). The franchise did not have another MVP winner until José Marmolejos in 2021.

In 1965, the Giants moved its PCL team back to Phoenix. However, the Chicago Cubs chose to move their affiliate, the Salt Lake City Bees, to Tacoma the same year and renamed the team the Tacoma Cubs.

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