Mariners 2022 Report Cards: Grading the season for Scott Servais

I’ve done a ton of player report cards so far this offseason, but there is one other important player on the team that needs to be talked about. It’s time to give a grade to the skipper, Scott Servais.

To me, the season that Servais had was reminiscent of how a college kid would treat a class. Struggled a bit at the start, took it seriously and knocked it out of the park the rest of the semester all the way up until the final, and then had a big old brain fart and messed up big time on the most important part of the test.

Scott Servais gets a B+ for his grade on the 2022 season with the Mariners

Servais did one of the best jobs in baseball all season. He managed the bullpen well, oversaw one of the greatest stretches of starting pitching in team history, and figured out how to field a lineup that could put up enough runs to keep getting wins even though they were a bit short on talent. He’s one of the finalists for American League Manager of the Year alongside Terry Francona of the Guardians and Brandon Hyde of the Orioles.

Yet, Servais left a sour taste in many people’s minds with how he managed the first game of the Astros series. It was too bad, because he had a great series otherwise.

I’ll admit that I don’t necessarily grade all of these the same. You have to look at what was expected from a player, their experience in the league, and the situations they were put in. That decision by Servais was arguably the biggest one that was made in the entirety of the playoffs, and so, it holds the most weight in affecting a grade.

Servais is up to 528-504 with the Mariners, sitting in second place well behind Sweet Lou for most wins in Mariners managerial history. He and Lou are also the only managers with winning records as well. If Servais can stick around for another 3 years, he will have a long shot at passing Lou’s 840 wins. He would have to go 104-58 each year, so it would be much more likely to happen in 2026.

Servais has done what so many others haven’t done in Mariners history. He took the team to the playoffs and won a series. He did a pretty good job most of the way, too. For all the vitriol that he generated in Houston, I still think that Mariners fans should be happy that he is at the helm. With everything that happened this year, I’m still fine giving him a B+ on the season.