Mariners' emotional 2026 last dance crashed into an awkward Dan Wilson ouster

Leave it to the 2026 Seattle Mariners to somehow have a dark cloud encroach on an otherwise sunny sendoff. A season this bleak absolutely needed fond farewells to Rick Rizzs, J.P. Crawford and Randy Arozarena. Could have done without the mid-game Dan Wilson news, though.

It was, of course, no great surprise when Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times broke the news that Wilson is out as the Mariners' manager. That had been expected for a long time, and that much more so when details about what had gone wrong under his watch had only just come out the day before.

But the timing of it? A little awkward, to say the least.

Sunday's finale was meant to be a good-vibes cap on a season that had been bad vibes all the way down. On its own merits, it delivered the goods. In what may the the final game for both as Mariners, Crawford and Arozarena got lovely ovations from the Seattle faithful at T-Mobile Park. So did Rizzs, who was treated to a full-team solute when Mariners players filtered out of the dugout before the game.

And, oh yeah, the Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-3. They finished the year 76-86. Pretty bad, but not as bad as 75-87.

This game didn't need any measure of palace intrigue to come in and stink up the place, but that's what happened when the Wilson news filtered out somewhere in the middle of the action. On social media, especially, things went completely haywire. There were even some taking the news to mean that the Mariners had deliberately fired Wilson while the game was still happening.

To be clear, that's not what happened.

Dan Wilson's exit makes for a weirdly fitting end to a grim Mariners season

What Divish actually reported, citing sources, was that Wilson had called a team meeting before Sunday's finale and that he used the occasion to inform everyone he would not be returning in 2027.

It presumably was not intended to leak, but good journalists have a way of uncovering these things and getting them out to the public as soon as possible. If Jerry Dipoto, Justin Hollander or another high-ranking front office member did the leaking, that would be one thing. But let's not jump to that conclusion. At least not yet.

As for exactly how Wilson's time as the Mariners' manager came to an end, he deflected when he was asked after the game whether it was his decision or a decision made for him.

"I've been in baseball a while, and this is what happens. Managers shoulder the blame, shoulder the responsibility," Wilson said. "This is obviously difficult. My family and I are still processing it, and we'll get through it."

There's no joy in seeing Wilson go out like this. He was not a good manager for many reasons, but he's still a a Mariners Hall of Famer whose good deeds for the franchise far outweigh the bad ones. He'll always have 2025, when he commanded tremendous respect in the clubhouse and ultimately got the Mariners closer to the World Series than they had ever been before. Just because it didn't end well doesn't mean the journey wasn't worth it.

That this is the ending Wilson got is almost too perfect of a punchline for the Mariners' 2026 season. It didn't start well. It never got better. And even when it seemed headed toward a high-note ending, there came a sudden car crash for everyone to rubberneck at. No having nice things this year. That's not allowed.

So long, 2026 Mariners. We'll all just have to do our best to forget you.

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