On July 1, the Seattle Mariners sat atop the American League West at 47-39 and had a three-game lead over the Houston Astros. Since then, they have gone 17-25, falling five games behind the Astros, and 7.5 games out of a wild-card spot in the American League.
Thursday the team made a major change. MLB insider Ken Rosenthal announced that the Mariners would be firing manager Scott Servais with former Seattle catcher Dan Wilson taking over.
Hired in 2015, Servais was in the middle of his ninth season as manager before his termination. He had posted three straight seasons with 88 or more wins, including his only postseason appearance in 2022, but that wasn’t enough for him to keep his job.
With the best pitching staff in baseball, the offense has struggled ranking near the bottom in virtually all offensive categories including 27th in the majors with only 503 runs scored and the worst team batting average in the MLB at .216.
Superstar outfielder Julio Rodriguez is having a massive regression this season. The player who was supposed to carry the offense has looked like a shell of himself and has been a big part of the team’s struggles, posting a .260/.310/.364 slash line with 11 HRs and 38 RBI.
After making trades for outfielder Randy Arozarena (.224/.385/.329, one HR, five RBI with Seattle) and first baseman Justin Turner (.196/.297/.268, one HR, nine RBI), they have proved not enough to help jump-start the offense and the team is on the verge of wasting another season of premium pitching.
While the Mariners have gone from a comfortable division lead to being outside of the playoff picture, the hope is that Wilson can light a fire under his team and turn things around in Seattle but it might be too late for that at this point.
If the collapse continues, this offseason will be a turning point for the franchise and could see them have to part ways with some of their dominant pitching to bring in some offensive talent, if they want to be competitive next season.
