The Seattle Mariners are expected to fire manager Scott Servais on Thursday and replace him with Dan Wilson, the team’s starting catcher in the 1990s. The Athletic reported the decision by the Mariners, citing unnamed sources.
Servais and Seattle fans have seen the Mariners’ lead in the American League West, which stood at 10 games on 18 June, erased. The team now are five games behind the Houston Astros in the division and seven and a half games out of the final wild-card spot.
The Mariners were 13 games over .500 when they had their biggest division lead and now are 64-64, going 20-33 since. Off Thursday, the Mariners return to Seattle, fresh off a 1-8 road trip, on Friday to face the San Francisco Giants.
Seattle’s pitching staff has done its share, leading the majors with a 3.53 ERA and .224 opponents’ batting average. But the offense has underperformed, last in the majors in average (.216) and hits (903) and leading in strikeouts (1,308).
Servais, 57, took over as the Mariners manager in 2016 and has a 680-642 record (.514 percentage). He took the Mariners to the postseason in 2022, celebrated as the Mariners ended a 21-year playoff drought.
They were swept by the Astros in the American League Division Series.
Wilson, 55, was with the Mariners from 1994 through 2005, counting some of the biggest names in franchise history – Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson, Alex Rodriguez and Jay Buhner – among his teammates.
Wilson has never managed at any level or been on an MLB coaching staff, though he has worked as a special assignment coordinator for the team and been a fill-in broadcaster.
