The Seattle Mariners did something this week that would have sounded ridiculous less than a year ago. They moved on from Dan Wilson, the manager who had just led them to an AL West championship and within one victory of the franchise’s first World Series.
Seattle officially announced that Wilson “will not return” in 2027, but there’s not much reason to dance around what happened. The Mariners decided they needed a new manager after finishing 76-86, third in the AL West, only one season after going 90-72 and reaching Game 7 of the ALCS. Wilson finished his tenure with a 187-171 record and the second-best winning percentage among managers in franchise history.
That makes the obvious question a little harder than it normally would be after a 76-win season: Did Wilson really deserve to lose his job?
I think the answer is yes, but with a pretty large asterisk attached.
A Season Seattle Simply Couldn’t Waste
The problem wasn’t simply that Seattle lost 86 games. Baseball teams have bad seasons. Players get hurt. Stars regress. Bullpens suddenly forget how to get three outs without turning every late inning into a stress test.
What makes 2026 so difficult to excuse is the opportunity Seattle wasted. Houston won the AL West at 81-81, while Texas finished 80-82. The Mariners didn’t need to be great to repeat as division champions. They basically needed to be slightly above average, and instead they finished five games behind a division winner that didn’t even have a winning record.
That’s an enormous missed opportunity for a team that entered the season believing it could reach the World Series. This wasn’t supposed to be a rebuilding year or a transition season. Seattle had just won its first division championship since 2001 and came painfully close to playing for a championship in 2025.
Even more troubling was how the Mariners got there. MLB.com reported that people throughout the organization pointed to a lack of accountability during the season. Seattle also struggled badly on defense, received inconsistent starting pitching, watched its bullpen falter and repeatedly hurt itself with mistakes.
Jerry Dipoto acknowledged those problems after the season. He said the team’s standards had faded and took responsibility for failing to make sure everyone remained accountable to them. He also made it clear that accountability will be an important part of the search for the next manager.
That’s where Wilson becomes harder to defend.
A manager can’t make a hitter produce. He can’t make a pitcher execute a slider, and he can’t prevent injuries. But maintaining standards, keeping a clubhouse focused and preventing sloppy baseball from becoming normal are major parts of the job.
If the Mariners truly believed those things slipped away in 2026, changing managers makes sense.
Wilson Wasn’t The Only Problem
There is another side to this, and it’s why dumping all of Seattle’s problems on Wilson would be ridiculous.
Several Mariners publicly put significant responsibility on themselves after the season. Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Josh Naylor, Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo were among the players who acknowledged that the roster needed to shoulder plenty of blame for what happened.
Wilson also deserves significant credit for 2025. You can’t blame him for everything that went wrong this season while pretending he had nothing to do with a 90-win division champion that came within eight outs of the World Series. That’s not how this works.
In fact, Wilson’s overall record makes this more complicated. He won 52.2 percent of his games as Mariners manager, trailing only Lou Piniella in franchise winning percentage. He also became the first Mariners manager to reach the postseason in his first full season.
Still, managers eventually get judged on what their teams become under their watch. The 2026 Mariners became careless, inconsistent and strangely disappointing during a season when the division was begging somebody to take it.
Wilson wasn’t the only reason. He probably wasn’t even the biggest reason. But changing the person running the clubhouse was a defensible move.
What wouldn’t be defensible is pretending the change fixes everything.
Accountability Can’t Stop With The Manager
Dipoto will now hire his third Mariners manager as he heads into his 12th season running Seattle’s baseball operations. During that time, the Mariners have made the postseason twice, in 2022 and 2025.
To Dipoto’s credit, he didn’t hide from that criticism Monday. He said the blame starts with him and acknowledged that questions about why he remains in charge are fair. He also said the Mariners need a “culture reset” after what happened this season.
That’s important because accountability can’t conveniently stop at the manager’s office. If Seattle’s standards slipped as badly as the organization believes they did, that reflects on everybody involved, from the players to the coaches to the baseball operations department.
Wilson paid the biggest price. Now Dipoto has to prove changing managers was more than changing the easiest person to replace.
So Who Should Seattle Hire?
My first realistic call would be Torey Lovullo.
Seattle has already discussed Lovullo internally, and reporting from the Seattle Times identified him as a candidate who has generated interest within the organization. That makes sense because Dipoto has said Seattle intends to hire from outside the organization and would prefer someone with previous major-league managerial experience.
Lovullo has plenty of it. He spent 10 seasons managing Arizona, compiling a 750-768 record and leading the Diamondbacks to the 2023 National League pennant. Arizona finished 86-76 this season but missed the playoffs for a third consecutive year. His contract with the Diamondbacks expired after the season, making his situation worth watching.
That overall record isn’t spectacular, so this isn’t about pretending Lovullo is some guaranteed solution. It’s about finding the type of manager Seattle appears to need right now.
Scott Servais had never managed in the majors when the Mariners hired him. Neither had Wilson. Seattle doesn’t need another manager learning the job while simultaneously trying to guide a team that believes its championship window remains open.
Lovullo has managed young players and veterans. He’s dealt with good teams and bad ones. He’s navigated a postseason run all the way to the World Series, and he would walk into Seattle as an outside voice rather than another person promoted from within the Mariners’ system.
That last part matters because Dipoto has admitted the organization became too insular. He specifically said Seattle needs someone from the outside who can challenge the way the Mariners operate and perhaps point out things the organization has stopped seeing itself.
Lovullo fits that description pretty well.
Seattle Should At Least Call Stephen Vogt
There’s another name I would absolutely call about, even though actually getting him seems unlikely: Stephen Vogt.
Vogt has Seattle connections after serving as the Mariners’ bullpen coach in 2023. He also has strong ties to the Pacific Northwest and developed relationships with people still in the organization, including Cal Raleigh and pitching coach Pete Woodworth.
More importantly, Vogt has been remarkably successful in Cleveland. He has won the AL Central in each of his first three seasons managing the Guardians after winning AL Manager of the Year in both 2024 and 2025. The problem is that he’s believed to be under contract through at least 2027, meaning Seattle couldn’t simply hire him away.
That makes Vogt much more of a dream candidate than a realistic one. Still, there’s no harm in finding out whether Cleveland would even entertain a conversation.
If Vogt isn’t available, Lovullo should be near the front of the line. Former Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and former Orioles manager Brandon Hyde are two other experienced names worth considering. Baldelli managed Minnesota for seven seasons, while Hyde previously managed Baltimore and is now working with Tampa Bay.
The Next Hire Has To Be Different
The Mariners made a painful decision with Wilson. Now they have to make that decision mean something.
Wilson wasn’t a terrible manager. His short tenure included one of the greatest seasons in franchise history, an AL West championship and a run to Game 7 of the ALCS. It also included one of the most disappointing follow-up seasons the Mariners have ever experienced.
Both things can be true.
Moving on from Wilson was reasonable. Making him the lone explanation for what happened would not be. Seattle needs better performances from its players, better decisions from its front office and a manager capable of establishing the standards Dipoto admits disappeared during the season.
For me, Lovullo makes the most sense among the realistic candidates. Vogt would be the home-run swing if Cleveland somehow opened the door, while Baldelli and Hyde deserve consideration if the Mariners cast the wide net Dipoto has promised.
This time, Seattle needs experience. It needs a different voice, and after watching a completely winnable AL West race slip away, it could probably use a little urgency too.
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