SEATTLE -- Ahead of the Mariners’ final game of one of their most disappointing seasons in franchise history, manager Dan Wilson informed players and staff on Sunday morning that he is not returning to his role in 2027, multiple sources told MLB.com.

The message was relayed from Wilson during a pregame meeting ahead of Game 162 and shortly after doors closed to media.

The club has not confirmed the looming leadership change, which is also expected to include turnover among Wilson’s coaching staff. However, among that group, director of pitching strategy Trent Blank and pitching coach Pete Woodworth will be back, per sources, and each are under contract for two more seasons.

Separately, as MLB.com reported last week, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander are expected to return in 2027.

Shortly after Sunday morning’s meeting, Wilson was asked if he’d had more correspondence with the front office about his future -- following up on his first public comments about his status for next season on Thursday, when the Mariners were officially eliminated.

“Those discussions continue to go on, and we'll know more in the future,” Wilson said before Sunday’s game against the Angels.

Sunday’s development came the morning that Seattle finished a 2026 regular season double-digit games under .500 and in third place in the American League West. It’s a division that virtually the entire industry -- including the Mariners themselves -- believed they’d be the frontrunners to win.

Instead, a combination of wildly underachieving offense, inconsistent starting pitching, a beleaguered bullpen that was battered in the second half, the sport’s worst defense by most advanced metrics and a slew of self-inflicted mistakes wound up sealing their fate.

For all these reasons -- coupled with legitimate World Series aspirations coming out of Spring Training -- a case could be made that the Mariners were MLB’s most disappointing team in 2026.

Wilson was hardly the only figure at fault, but he was a central piece to their shortcomings.

Multiple club personnel -- including players, coaches and front-office officials -- indicated to MLB.com on background at different stages of the season the Mariners notably lacked accountability, and that much of these issues stemmed from the top down. That was especially true as the year reached its most perilous points, those sources said.

Then, after they were officially eliminated on Thursday, the word “accountability” has been initiated by players in multiple interviews as a leading factor in what went wrong.

Wilson was also asked about accountability on Sunday morning -- specifically, if it was lacking.

“That's always a necessary component, and I think accountability comes in a lot of different ways,” Wilson said. “And perhaps it could have been something. Obviously, I think you look back, and there's a lot of things that you can point to, and perhaps that's one of them. I think it's definitely an essential part of what happens.

“And that can come from coaches. It can come from clubhouses. It can come from a lot of different places, and I think obviously it's one of those areas we continue to look at and continue to make our adjustments, as there are other areas too where things can get better.”

To be sure, multiple players -- including Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Josh Naylor, Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo -- said on the record this week that a chunk of the blame in ‘26 fell on them. Each among that group, sans Gilbert, experienced regression this season that, collectively, was another among the club’s biggest pitfalls.

That said, the club determined that it became increasingly clear that leadership changes were necessary -- for a team that is firmly in a win-now window but has made just two postseason appearances (2022, 2025) since emerging from its rebuild in 2021.

Wilson just finished his second full season after being hired in August 2024 to replace Scott Servais. This was his first managerial role in any full-time capacity.

The Mariners, already with a host of questions entering the offseason, will now immediately face their most critical: Who will replace him, and what criteria will they seek?

These are queries for Dipoto and Hollander, who are expected to hold a formal press conference at some point this week.