Newly-Fired Seattle Mariners Manager on Wrong Side of Baseball History in 2024
The Seattle Mariners fired manager Scott Servais on Thursday afternoon after nine years with the organization. The firing comes as a response to the team's poor play over the last two months.
Seattle led the American League West by 10.0 games on June 19 and now trails by 5.5 games entering play on Friday. In a year where the Astros have struggled and been incredibly injured, the Mariners have failed to seize control of the division, despite ample chances.
All in all, Servais delivered a solid but not spectacular tenure in the dugout. Under his guidance, the Mariners had a winning record, made the playoffs once and missed the playoffs in the final week of the season multiple times. They were largely interesting and often outkicked their coverage.
Despite all that, the weight of the last two months and missed opportunity was too tough to overcome, and Servais exits with this negative distinction on his resume.
Per @OptaSTATS on social media:
Scott Servais is the first manager in MLB history to have a 10.0+ game lead in the division (or league, prior to 1969) but then be fired before the end of the season.
Scott Servais is the first manager in MLB history to have a 10.0+ game lead in the division (or league, prior to 1969) but then be fired before the end of the season. pic.twitter.com/LBcgKoAAvh
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 23, 2024
It's not all Servais's fault, of course. There's blame to be given on ownership for not necessarily providing the team with proper financial resources. There's blame on Jerry Dipoto, who has worked within the confines of a budget but hasn't necessarily provided the best team on the field, and then there's the players themselves, who have failed to live up to their baseball cards.
The Mariners will be back in action under new skipper Dan Wilson on Friday night. They'll take on the San Francisco Giants at 7:10 p.m. PT.
RELATED SEATTLE MARINERS CONTENT:
NEW PODCAST IS OUT: The latest episode of the "Refuse to Lose" podcast is out as Brady Farkas talks about the Mariners firing Scott Servais, hiring Dan Wilson and Jerry Dipoto getting to stay on the job. Furthermore, we are joined by Ty Buttrey, who played most of this season at Triple-A Tacoma. He shares his opinion on Servais, the organization and the state of baseball as a whole in an enlightening conversation. CLICK HERE:
LONG OVERDUE? One former Mariner says the firing of Scott Servais should have happened earlier. CLICK HERE:
DAN is the MAN: Dan Wilson has been given the job, permanently? CLICK HERE:
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