July 31, 1998 was the dawn of a new day for the Seattle Mariners.
Heading down the stretch of a disappointing season, the defending AL West champs traded franchise icon Randy Johnson to the Houston Astros. The trade would prove to be the first domino in a string of moves that saw Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr., and Alex Rodriguez all leave the Emerald City within two and a half years. In offloading Johnson, the Mariners signaled to the rest of the league that they were ready to softly phase out of the mid-90s stretch that had brought them national relevance and kept the team in Seattle.