The Seattle Mariners were on their way to playing in the World Series for the first time in team history a year ago. They had a 3-1 lead late in the seventh game of the American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, but they could not hold that margin. It was a heartbreaking finish for manager Dan Wilson's team as the Blue Jays rallied and sent the Mariners home empty-handed.
The Mariners never got over that defeat — much as the Blue Jays never got over their World Series loss to the Dodgers. Seattle stumbled out of the gate this year and despite having one of the most talented rosters in the American League, they have never been able to assert themselves in the weakest division in Major League Baseball.
Even though the Texas Rangers and Houston Astrosare both under .500, those two teams are fighting for the division title. The Mariners (74-84) are out of contention.
In addition to having top offensive players like Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez and Randy Arozarena, the Mariners appeared to have the best starting pitching in the American League.
They should be competing with the Tampa Bay Rays for the best record in the AL, but they have played uninspired baseball all season.
Wilson needs to pack his bags
Much of this is on manager Dan Wilson. He could not inspire his team when it had a 3-2 lead in the ALCS last year and he has not been able to reach his players this season. The Mariners need to make a move with their on-field leadership and get rid of Wilson. The degree of underachievement this season is beyond embarrassing.
The Mariners need to bring in former World Series-winning manager Alex Cora to turn this team around. Cora has eight years of big-league experience managing the Boston Red Sox. They were victorious in the 2018 World Series, Cora's first year with the team. He also led two other Red Sox teams to the playoffs even though that team went through extensive personnel changes.
Cora was fired early this season by the Red Sox after that team got off to a brutal start. The Red Sox will be participating in the playoffs next week as an AL Wild Card team. Manager Chad Tracy picked up the pieces and helped turn things around when the team went on a 32-5 hot streak in the middle of the season.
Red Sox did little to support Cora
Cora received little support from management because the Red Sox did not get involved in the free-agent bidding for Pete Alonso. They also failed to bring back Alex Bregman. Cora had been told that the team was prepared to bring in significant talent last offseason. Those failures played a huge role in Boston's brutal start.
Cora has been out of baseball since he was dismissed in late April. He wants to manage again, and taking the rest of the year off should give him a new outlook. He relates well to all his players and often has a special rapport with Spanish-speaking players.
If the Mariners hire Cora, it would breathe new life into a franchise that appeared to be emotionally depressed throughout the season.
Article Continues BelowPitching stars, sluggers must come back to form
Few teams can match a pitching rotation that includes Bryan Woo, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryce Miller. However, there was quite a bit of regression to that group in 2026.
Woo demonstrated that he was a top-3 pitcher in the American League a year ago, but that was not the case this year. Woo had shoulder issues earlier in the year, and he has a 12-9 record with 3.92 earned run average along with 167 strikeouts in 167.2 innings.
He was an All-Star in 2025 with a 15-7 record along with a 2.94 ERA and 198 strikeouts in 186.2 innings. There was more aggressiveness and precision to his pitching last year.
The Mariners may want to make some adjustments to their pitching staff, but Woo should remain at the top of the rotation and he needs to regain his best form.
Raleigh has had a major downturn this year after his remarkable 60 HR season a year ago. He has had a recent surge that allowed him to reach 23 home runs for the season, but his slash line of .180/.293/.370 has been brutal.
It seems very likely that Raleigh will bounce back next year, but that does not mean he will have another season with 60 home runs. If the Mariners are going to assert themselves in this less-than-challenging division, the Mariners need to add one more power bat to take the pressure off of Raleigh.
That is on President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto. In addition to firing Wilson and hiring Cora, he must find a legitimate power bat to support Raleigh and return the Mariners to the top of the AL West.
Those are the three radical changes this team must make going forward.