NEW YORK (AP) -- In the end, all those victories added up to nothing much at all for the Seattle Mariners.

What counted more than 116 regular-season wins were four losses in the ALCS that sent the Mariners home early and made the New York Yankees American League champions for the fourth straight year.

"You play to get to the World Series," Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. "It gets in your blood. That's what you play for. That's what you strive for."

Except for a 14-3 rout in Game 3 -- when they scored all their runs from the sixth inning on -- the Mariners simply couldn't solve Yankees pitching until it was too late.

Even with the meager offense that managed just five runs in the first three losses, the Mariners came within five outs of tying the series in Game 4 and forcing a return to Seattle. Then the Yankees rallied for a 3-1 victory that left Seattle on the brink of elimination and that came Monday night in a 12-3 loss.

"Last night, we were over Detroit on the way to Minneapolis," Piniella cracked before Game 5. "Right now, we're back at LaGuardia."

When they got back in the air, it was for keeps after home runs by Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill helped the Yankees to the win that finished off the Mariners.

The outcome didn't change Piniella's opinion about his team., which tied the major league record with all those wins and won the AL West by 14 games.

"I'm proud of what the organization accomplished this year and I'm proud of my players," he said.

And why not?

From top to bottom, the Mariners had a monster season.

They imported Ichiro Suzuki, plugged him in at the top of the batting order and he merely batted .350 with major league-leading 242 hits and 52 stolen bases.

They signed free agent Bret Boone and he led the league with 141 runs batted in, hit 37 doubles, 37 home runs and batted .331 -- the best offensive season by any second baseman in AL history.

They pieced together a starting rotation headed by Jamie Moyer, who had a career year with 20 wins. Journeyman Paul Abbott, mostly anonymous until this season, went 17-4. Closers Arthur Rhodes and Kazuhiro Sasaki combined for 48 saves.

They lost three likely Hall of Famers -- Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Alex Rodriguez -- in successive years and improved their won-loss record each time.

There's plenty there to be proud about.

The Mariners' .716 winning percentage was second-best ever in the AL and fifth best ever in the major leagues. They won 20 games in April and 20 more in May, the first team to put consecutive 20-win months together. They also won 20 in August.

Seattle led the American League in batting, fielding and pitching, a lethal combination that led to all those wins.

They went into the postseason on a roll, winning six of the last seven and 10 of the last 13.

Maybe the 116 wins were an omen. The Mariners tied the record set in 1906 by the Chicago Cubs, who went on to lose the World Series that year to the Chicago White Sox.

Seattle got in postseason trouble right away, shut out in the opener of the division series by Cleveland and forced to five games by the Indians. Then New York finished the Mariners off in five in the ALCS.

Signs around Yankee Stadium taunted the Mariners. One said "116 Wins. So What" and another read "Winless in Seattle."

Freddy Garcia, who would have started Game 6 for Seattle had there been one, knows all those wins don't matter much right now.

"Anything can happen in the playoffs," he said. "It's a short series. The regular season is over. We won 116 games, but that's over."

And so is the Mariners' season.