There's plenty of blame to go around in Seattle for the Mariners' disappointing follow-up season to their first-ever American League Championship Series appearance in 2025. Much of that blame is falling on manager Dan Wilson. In his most recent appearance on Fair Territory, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic listed four managers — the Angels' Kurt Suzuki, the Orioles' Craig Albernaz, the Diamondbacks' Torey Lovullo and Wilson — as potentially being on the hot seat.
Of those four, Rosenthal could only predict with confidence that one man will lose his job. Wilson's exit from the manager's chair is potentially complicated by his longstanding relationship with the team that acquired him in a trade prior to the 1994 season, when he was a four-year MLB veteran catcher. Wilson was named to the Mariners' Hall of Fame in 2012, and began work as a color commentator on the team's regional sports network the following year.
In November 2013, he became the team's minor league catching coordinator. More news: Former Dodgers World Series Champion, 2-Time All-Star, Considers Retiring Wilson was working as a minor league special assignment coordinator when he replaced Scott Servais in August 2024. In 2025, the Mariners 90-72, won the American League West, and reached the ALCS for the first time in franchise history.
Although Seattle lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in a memorable seven-game series, expectations were high for the team to emerge from a relatively weak AL West in 2026. More news: Blue Jays Cut 7-Year Veteran, Promote Rudy Martin Jr. for MLB Debut Seattle entered Sunday's game against the A's with a 70-79 record, third in the division and five games back of the third and final AL wild-card berth. The underachieving performances of several veterans — catcher Cal Raleigh, pitcher Luis Castillo, and utility player Rob Refsnyder among others — fall more on the players themselves than the manager.
But when the number of underachievers adds up, it's not uncommon for the manager to take the blame. Wilson's stubborn reliance on opposite-handed pitcher-batter matchups, his ability to manage a bullpen, and examples of underachievement might add up to a set of circumstances he can't overcome. For more MLB news, visit Newsweek Sports.
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