Dan Wilson won’t return as Seattle Mariners manager in 2027

Dan Wilson will not be returning for a fourth season as Seattle Mariners manager, he announced after the team’s 2026 season finale Sunday.

What Dan Wilson said after last game as Seattle Mariners manager

A statement from the Mariners was also released Sunday afternoon announcing the change.

“Collectively we failed our own expectations this season,” president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said in the statement. “Dan I both care deeply about this organization, these players, and the future of the Mariners. After much discussion it was concluded that a new direction is best for 2027 and beyond.”

Wilson also was quoted in the statement.

“I’ve appreciate the opportunity to lead this team the past two years,” Wilson said. “While this season has not gone the way any of us expected, I’m proud that the players in the clubhouse showed up each day to try and compete and battle in each game they played. I’m confident that the 2026 season doesn’t accurately reflect the talent, passion and desire of our players and know that bright things are ahead for this group.”

President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto announced today that Dan Wilson will not return as Field Manager in 2027.

Read more: https://t.co/aDyDTOtAKE pic.twitter.com/q1bshzJ05X

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) September 27, 2026

Wilson informed the team during a meeting before Sunday’s game that it would be his last as Mariners manager, per reports by The Seattle Times and MLB.com.

MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer also reported that director of pitching strategy Trent Blank and pitching coach Pete Woodworth, who each have two years left on their contracts, will be back next season. Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander are also expected to return, per Kramer.

Wilson said after Sunday’s game that “the Mariners organization has expressed interest in a role going forward and I look forward to investigating those options in the future.”

With a 187-171 record, the 57-year-old Wilson leaves with the seventh-most wins out of the 21 managers in Mariners history, and is one of just 10 people to manage the team in three seasons or more.

Wilson took over as Mariners manager in August 2024 as a permanent replacement for Scott Servais, who was let go at the same time as he neared the end of his ninth season as M’s skipper. Wilson led the Mariners to a 21-13 record over the remainder of the 2024 campaign, though Seattle fell just short of the playoffs, finishing second in the AL West with an 85-77 record.

In Wilson’s first full season as manager, the Mariners enjoyed their highest success in nearly a quarter-century, winning their first AL West title since 2001 with a 90-72 record. Seattle then beat the Detroit Tigers in five games in an AL Division Series, and it reached the first Game 7 in team history before ultimately losing to the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Championship Series.

The Mariners entered 2026 with higher expectations than ever before, as some MLB insiders predicted the team would make the World Series for the first time in their 50 MLB seasons. Instead, the M’s disappointed throughout the schedule and couldn’t take advantage of a year where the American League in general and AL West more specifically were down.

Seattle used a three-game sweep over the Athletics to move past the A’s first place in the AL West in late May, and it remained in first place for the next month. But the Mariners never got more than four games above .500, and they lost control of the division while struggling to a 28-42 record from June 9 through the end of August.

The club’s season ended Sunday with a 76-86 record – its worst in a full season since 2019 – that was good for third place in a historically poor AL West that featured a .500 Houston Astros squad as the division winner. It marks the first time in MLB history that a team with a .500 or worse record has won a division.

The Mariners were hit hard by injuries to key players this year including Brendan Donovan, who was limited to just 39 games in his first season with Seattle due to a groin injury and concussion, relievers Matt Brash and Cooper Criswell, and lineup stalwarts Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and J.P. Crawford. The performances of the latter three players in particular fell short of their previous production, especially for Raleigh coming off his record-setting 60-homer season in 2025.

Wilson is in the Mariners Hall of Fame for his 12-year tenure as the team’s catcher. He caught 1,281 games with the Mariners between 1994 and 2005, more than any other catcher in franchise history. He was the starting catcher on each of Seattle’s first four playoff teams, including the club’s magical 1995 team and their record-setting 116-win team in 2001.

Wilson was an All-Star in 1996, when he hit .285 with a career-high 18 home runs. A career .262 hitter, Wilson retired with a .995 fielding percentage, which at the time was the highest for any catcher in AL history.

Before moving into the manager role, Wilson spent 11 seasons working for the Mariners in an on-field capacity in the club’s baseball operations group, seven seasons as a special assistant for player development, and was a regular analyst for the Mariners radio and TV broadcasts. He also was Seattle’s minor league catching coordinator in 2014 and 2015, its defensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017, and served brief stints as a fill-in manager for teams in the farm system.

Seattle Mariners news and more

• Montes, Anderson among Mariners’ minor league award winners
• Mariners’ first-round pick named top standout by Baseball America
• Cal Raleigh addresses the Mariners’ ‘collective failure’ this season

Related

Mariners players speak on manager Dan Wilson’s exitHear Rick Rizzs’ final inning, farewell as voice of the Seattle MarinersAstros win AL West with worst record ever for a first-place teamDan Wilson makes statement after last game as Mariners managerGilbert fans 8 in 4 no-hit innings, Mariners beat Angels 7-3 in season finaleWard, Crawford lead Mariners past Angels 8-4