In 2025, the Seattle Mariners were just one game away from making it to the World Series but lost in the ALCS. That gave fans some hope for 2026, but all that came crashing down as they finished with a 76-86 record, 8 games behind the last Wild Card spot, and ended the Dan Wilson Era. The timing of the departures, Wilson dismissed first, then the four coaches one day later, signals a complete organizational reset.

Bob Nightingale reported the mass firing, writing, “The Seattle Mariners also fire most of their veteran coaches one day after dismissing manager Dan Wilson.”

One day after Wilson’s departure, Seattle announced that Manny Acta, Perry Hill, Kevin Seitzer and Eric Young Jr. would also be leaving the organization. Although they didn’t come on the same day, the Mariners are now looking at a full coaching staff rebuild. And suddenly, familiar voices who had shaped the clubhouse for years were no longer part of Seattle’s plans.

Acta had spent 11 seasons with Seattle across different coaching roles under Wilson and Scott Servais. Hill spent 8 seasons helping Seattle’s infielders, with J.P. Crawford, Evan White and Dylan Moore earning Gold Gloves.

Seitzer arrived in 2025 after 10 seasons as Atlanta’s hitting coach, while Young spent 2024 as baserunning coordinator before coaching first base. But none of that experience could survive a 76-86 season.

The offense became one of the biggest reasons the Mariners are going to be watching October baseball from home. Seattle finished 28th in runs scored and 27th in OPS, leaving too much pressure on a pitching staff that eventually slipped. Julio Rodríguez (.230 post-ASB) and Josh Naylor (2 HR post-ASB) underperformed, leaving the offense depleted.

But the problems were not limited to the batter’s box. The Mariners’ infield also struggled, even though the numbers were not as severe as the offensive collapse. Crawford played 85 games at shortstop and 33 at third base, while his shortstop Defensive Runs Saved dropped from +3 in 2025 to -9. Despite an improved .980 fielding percentage (up from .977 in 2025), Crawford made 11 errors, suggesting the metric masked underlying defensive struggles.

Wilson’s departure then made the coaching changes feel like the next natural step. Dipoto publicly thanked all four coaches. He said, “I will always have the utmost respect and appreciation for these men, each of whom made meaningful contributions to our team. After much reflection, we have determined that significant changes are required as we look toward 2027 and beyond.”

With Wilson gone, and the Mariners’ ranking at the bottom of the rankings left no room for Wilson’s coaching staff. But they are keeping their pitching structure of Pete Woodworth and Trent Blank for the 2027 season. That leaves the next manager with some continuity, but also several new voices to shape the clubhouse.

Reasons why theMariners’s season burned to the ground

The Mariners entered 2026 expecting another postseason run, but their season has slowly fallen apart in several ways. Injuries started taking important pieces away before Seattle could find any real consistency. Brendan Donovan played only 39 of 156 games, while Matt Brash appeared just 20 times. J.P. Crawford, Cal Raleigh, Carlos Vargas and Luke Raley also missed important stretches.

That injury trouble became even harder to overcome when Seattle’s starting pitching started falling after the All-Star break. The Mariners had 66 quality starts this season, but only 22 came after the break. Their starters posted a 4.64 ERA while making 27 starts of five innings or fewer after the All-Star break. They also allowed 1.7 home runs per nine innings, putting more pressure on an already struggling bullpen.

That pressure also exposed how much the Mariners needed from their biggest offensive names throughout the season.

Julio Rodríguez and Josh Naylor struggled, but Raleigh’s season became the biggest problem in the lineup. After producing 9.1 fWAR in 2025, Raleigh finished with just 1.9 fWAR in 2026. He also missed 29 games with an oblique injury, leaving the team without its expected offensive leader.

Raleigh’s late-season surge (.264, 11 HR in 31 games) came too late to salvage a season that began with a .156 average in his first 90 games. But that surge came too late to change what had already happened to the season.

For Mariners fans, those late numbers only made the earlier struggles more frustrating to watch. Those problems left Seattle trying to find answers while October slowly moved out of reach.