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Video Games As A Time Capsule

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As I watch the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers play in the 2025 Major League Baseball playoffs, I'm transported back in time. This year was the first time the Mariners won the American League West division in 24 years, but we have to go back even further. We have to go back to 1998.

The summer of 1998 for me was one full of anxiety, excitement, and baseball. I had finished middle school and was trying to prepare myself for the world of high school. At the same time, I was living in San Diego, as I did every summer as a kid after my parents' divorce, and I was watching the San Diego Padres do something special. The Padres were a team I first fell in love with in 1996 when my father took me to my first Major League game. I didn't know the world of hurt I was in for.

The Padres had been a middling team for their entire existence. They made it to the World Series in 1984, only to be swept by a juggernaut in the Detroit Tigers. But that was about it. That 1996 team I fell in love with made the postseason only to be promptly swept. But 1998 felt different. I spent the summer cheering the team on, going to games when my dad could take us, and generally trying to ignore the looming shadow of high school.

When that summer ended and I returned to my life in Tucson, Arizona, I had to face two things: high school and no more baseball. The Arizona Diamondbacks were in the midst of their inaugural year up in Phoenix, but I didn't want anything to do with them, and I didn't have an easy way to get to the games 90 miles north. To get my fix, I was able to listen to Padres baseball on the nascent web (yes, streaming radio broadcasts were a thing on the web in 1998) and I was able to play Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr. on the Nintendo 64 with my friends.

The N64 cover of Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr.

The game came out in May of that year and was populated with the current roster at the time. Since it came out after the season had already begun, and since development of games takes forever, the developers surely used the 1997 season stats to help define the players' capabilities in the game. This is important because Ken Griffey Jr., the title player, played for the Seattle Mariners. And the Mariners were STACKED in 1997.

Check out the numbers for the 1997 Mariners:

Standard Batting Table
Rk Player Age Pos WAR G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ rOBA Rbat+ TB GIDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
1 Dan Wilson 28 C 3.8 146 563 508 66 137 31 1 15 74 7 2 39 72 .270 .326 .423 .749 96 .347 102 215 12 5 8 3 1 *2/H
2 Paul Sorrento* 31 1B 2.4 146 513 457 68 123 19 0 31 80 0 2 51 112 .269 .345 .514 .859 123 .371 121 235 13 3 0 2 9 *3H/D
3 Joey Cora# 32 2B 2.6 149 649 574 105 172 40 4 11 54 6 7 53 49 .300 .359 .441 .800 110 .354 109 253 6 5 8 9 2 *4H AS
4 Álex Rodríguez 21 SS 5.7 141 638 587 100 176 40 3 23 84 29 6 41 99 .300 .350 .496 .846 120 .393 130 291 14 5 4 1 1 *6/D AS
5 Russ Davis 27 3B 1.8 119 455 420 57 114 29 1 20 63 6 2 27 100 .271 .317 .488 .805 109 .358 109 205 11 2 3 2 2 *5/HD
6 José Cruz# 23 LF 1.6 49 198 183 28 49 12 1 12 34 1 0 13 45 .268 .315 .541 .856 120 .368 116 99 3 0 1 1 0 7/H ROY-2
7 Ken Griffey Jr.* 27 CF 9.1 157 704 608 125 185 34 3 56 147 15 4 76 121 .304 .382 .646 1.028 165 .427 158 393 12 8 0 12 23 *8/D7 AS,MVP-1,GG,SS
8 Jay Buhner 32 RF 3.3 157 665 540 104 131 18 2 40 109 0 0 119 175 .243 .383 .506 .889 132 .397 137 273 23 5 0 1 3 *9/HD MVP-19
9 Edgar Martínez 34 DH 6.2 155 678 542 104 179 35 1 28 108 2 4 119 86 .330 .456 .554 1.009 165 .439 169 300 21 11 0 6 11 *D/3H5 AS,MVP-14,SS
Rk Player Age Pos WAR G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ rOBA Rbat+ TB GIDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
10 Rich Amaral 35 LF -0.5 89 210 190 34 54 5 0 1 21 12 8 10 34 .284 .327 .326 .653 73 .301 74 62 7 3 5 2 0 7H34/89D56
11 Mike Blowers 32 1B 0.6 68 177 150 22 44 5 0 5 20 0 0 21 33 .293 .376 .427 .802 112 .362 113 64 4 0 4 2 1 3H5/79D
12 Brent Gates# 27 3B -0.4 65 170 151 18 36 8 0 3 20 0 0 14 21 .238 .298 .351 .649 71 .290 62 53 6 0 2 3 0 54H/637D
13 Rob Ducey* 32 LF 0.9 76 151 143 25 41 15 2 5 10 3 3 6 31 .287 .311 .524 .836 115 .347 106 75 3 0 0 2 0 79H8
14 Lee Tinsley# 28 LF 0.1 49 133 122 12 24 6 2 0 6 2 0 11 34 .197 .263 .279 .542 43 .259 39 34 4 0 0 0 0 7H/8D9
15 Roberto Kelly 32 LF 1.1 30 129 121 19 36 7 0 7 22 2 1 5 17 .298 .328 .529 .857 122 .373 121 64 2 1 1 1 0 7/H8D
16 Andy Sheets 25 3B 0.2 32 102 89 18 22 3 0 4 9 2 0 7 34 .247 .299 .416 .715 86 .327 84 37 1 0 5 1 0 5/64H
17 John Marzano 34 C 0.1 39 96 87 7 25 3 0 1 10 0 0 7 15 .287 .340 .356 .697 85 .327 88 31 2 0 2 0 0 2/HD
18 Álvaro Espinoza 35 MI -0.6 33 78 72 3 13 1 0 0 7 1 1 2 12 .181 .213 .194 .408 9 .187 -11 14 2 1 3 0 0 64/H5
19 Raúl Ibañez* 25 OF -0.4 11 26 26 3 4 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 6 .154 .154 .346 .500 27 .206 4 9 0 0 0 0 0 /9H7D
20 Rick Wilkins* 30 DH 0.1 5 14 12 2 3 1 0 1 4 0 0 1 2 .250 .286 .583 .869 122 .347 102 7 0 0 0 1 0 /2DH
21 Dan Rohrmeier 31 DH 0.1 7 11 9 4 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 4 .333 .455 .333 .788 113 .378 124 3 0 0 0 0 0 /HD3
22 Brian Raabe 29 IF 0.0 2 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000 .250 .000 .250 -26 .181 -14 0 0 0 0 0 0 /54H
23 Giomar Guevara# 24 MI -0.2 5 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 .059 -141 0 0 0 0 0 0 /4DH6
Rk Player Age Pos WAR G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ rOBA Rbat+ TB GIDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
24 Jeff Fassero* 34 P 0.0 2 5 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .200 .200 .200 .400 6 .181 -13 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
25 Jamie Moyer* 34 P 0.0 1 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667 77 .301 70 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
26 Derek Lowe 24 P 0.0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 .000 -136 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
27 Omar Olivares 29 P 0.0 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 .500 .500 .500 1.000 166 .452 176 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
28 Ken Cloude 22 P 0.0 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 .000 -136 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
29 Josías Manzanillo 29 P 0.0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 .000 -150 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
30 Bob Wells 30 P 0.1 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 .724 375 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
31 Bob Wolcott 23 P 0.0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 .000 -150 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
32 Mike Timlin 31 P 0.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
33 Heathcliff Slocumb 31 P 0.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
34 Scott Sanders 28 P 0.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
35 Greg McCarthy* 28 P 0.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
36 Norm Charlton# 34 P 0.0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
37 Bobby Ayala 27 P 0.0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Team Totals 37.4 162 6385 5614 925 1574 312 21 264 890 89 40 626 1110 .280 .355 .485 .839 119 .372 120 2720 146 49 46 49 53
Non-Pitcher Totals 37.3 6368 5598 924 1571 312 21 264 888 89 40 625 1106 .281 .355 .485 .841 119 .372 120 2717 146 49 46 49 53
Pitcher Totals 0.1 17 16 1 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 4 .188 .235 .188 .423 14 .202 1 3 0 0 0 0 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/8/2025.

Oh, and they had both Randy Johnson and Jamie Moyer on the starting pitching staff.

So, the Mariners had a great offense and Ken Griffey Jr. was already my favorite player. Despite being a huge Padres fan, I spent my time playing as the Mariners. When my friends and I would play, no team was off limits, but whoever got to the team first got to play as them. I always raced to select the Mariners. I played countless hours throwing nasty Randy Johnson sliders, followed by 100mph fastballs. I would hit bombs with Griffey and rake doubles with Alex Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez.

I can still see the interface as clear as if I were back in 1998. The game did a great job representing the capabilities of each player based on the historical stats and amplified (presumably) by their prior-season stats. I can still remember playing as the Padres occasionally and being frustrated by how inept the team was in the game when the real Padres were having their best season.

All of this brings me to the point of this article. I still have that game. I still have my Nintendo 64. I can fire the game up and experience it exactly as I did in 1998. There is something special about that. It's a time capsule of memories. It's a baseball card come to life. If I ever want to remind myself how good the Mariners offense was back then, all I have to do is plug the N64 in, hook it up to a TV, and insert the cartridge. If I want to see Randy Johnson in his prime and a 40-homer version of Jay Buhner, I can do it any time I want. And this applies to every other team in the game.

In 1997, the Florida Marlins beat the Cleveland Indians in the World Series, so I can experience the game's developers' predictions of what that meant for the 1998 season by playing as either of those teams. If I want to play as current Cubs (another playoff team) manager Craig Counsell, I can select the Marlins and enjoy "The Chicken" and his unique batting stance.

Try doing that with any games made in the last decade. Every sports game—and just about every game—is internet-connected. Rosters update in real-time. If you play the same game the following season, you can connect and update the roster to the current year's roster. You lose the history. You lose the time capsule.

It feels a lot like tearing a baseball card up every year.

Yes, there's some millennial nostalgia at play here, but I miss being able to return to the way things were without being constantly prompted to update to the way things are now. We don't need to live in the past, but we shouldn't lose it. We should be able to remember it and experience it where possible. That game, in that specific year, meant a lot to me.

I'm thankful I can play it today exactly as I played it back then.

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