The Seattle Mariners were added to the American League in 1977 as an expansion team, bringing Major League Baseball back to Seattle for the first time since the departure (after their one and only season of existence) of the Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee in 1970. The Seattle Mariners played their first game on April 6, 1977 to a sold-out crowd of 58,000 at the Kingdome (they lost 7-0 to the California Angels). The early history of the team during the 1970s and 80s is characterized by perennial non-achievement. The Mariners finished last or next-to-last in their division in 10 of their first 13 seasons, and did not record a winning season until 1991.