Dan Wilson won't return as Mariners manager in 2027

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Sep 27, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — As fans made their way into T-Mobile Park for the final game of what has likely been the most disappointing season in franchise history, the Seattle Mariners players and staff gathered for one last team meeting before heading out on to a crisp and sunny Sunday to play the Los Angeles Angels.

These sort of season-ending meetings without an appearance in the postseason are never enjoyable. And for this Mariners team, which had World Series expectations, it represented a colossal and collective failure.

But for Dan Wilson, a man who has devoted his professional baseball career to the Mariners, it was a meeting to say goodbye.

After thanking everyone for their efforts, the Mariners’ manager informed the group that he would not be returning in 2027, sources told The Seattle Times.

The circumstances surrounding Wilson’s departure weren’t known. Was he fired? Did he opt to resign? Or was it a mutual parting of ways?

It didn’t come as a surprise. There had been growing speculation and rumors that the Mariners would make a managerial change after the season. Internally, it became evident that a change was coming.

“We know it’s happening,” a Mariners player said last season. “That is what happens after when you have a season like this.”

Mariners president of baseball Jerry Dipoto will now hire his third manager since being hired in September of 2015.

As the Mariners floundered during the 2026 season, failing to play anything close to consistent baseball, there was growing demand for Wilson to be fired. Internally, the disconnect between Wilson and the front office and baseball operations department was palpable.

But the front office and ownership group opted to stick with Wilson out of respect, wanting him to finish the season while hoping against odds and past performance that the team might make a late push into the playoffs.

As summer turned to fall in September, it became obvious that a miracle run wasn’t coming.

Wilson’s final game as Mariners manager was a 7-3 victory over the Angels. He finished with a 187-171 record as a manager while leading the 2025 team to fourth its American League West title and fourth appearance in the American League Championship Series.

Wilson replaced Scott Servais, the second-winningest manager in team history, who was fired on Aug. 22, 2024, following an awful 1-8 road trip that dropped the team’s record to 64-64. He was less than two seasons removed from leading the 2022 Mariners to the postseason for the first time since 2001.

There was a belief that Servais, who was in the final year of his contract, was a little too controlling and too hands-on in his approach, which the players were starting to outgrow. Wilson pushed for the players to take ownership and ceded some of the leadership aspects to the likes of Cal Raleigh, J.P. Crawford, Julio Rodríguez and Luis Castillo.

When the Mariners named Wilson as Servais’ replacement, it wasn’t just for the rest of the season. There was no interim tag. Wilson was the new manager moving forward, which was a curious, if not unusual, decision.

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