After 144 regular season games, the 1995 American League West Division title came down to one game. On October 2, 1995, the Mariners and Angels met at the Kingdome with identical 78–66 records.
The pitching match-up pitted two pitchers who were traded for each other in 1989: Randy Johnson for the Mariners and Mark Langston for the Halos.
The left-handers were among the top pitchers in the American League in 1995, each ranking in the top-10 in wins and quality starts.
Johnson compiled a dominant 1995 regular season in which he went 18–2 while leading the American League in ERA (2.