Mariners manager on hot seat after admitting ’embarrassing’ blunder over ‘basic’ MLB rule

For a Seattle Mariners team that was expected to run away with their division, this season has been far from what many were hoping.

Tuesday’s dramatic loss to the Chicago White Sox put the Mariners record at 23-26, only one game behind the Las-Vegas bound Athletics.

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Their ‘piggyback’ experiment between pitchers Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo almost worked to perfection.

However, the game would end in arguably the most agonizing defeat of the young season, as they blew a 1-0 lead in the ninth and lost by a score of 2-1.

Despite the loss, Mariners manager Dan Wilson was bailed out after forgetting a crucial rule.

Mariners manager bailed out after forgetting rules

Castillo, making the first appearance out of the bullpen of his career, pitched a dominant seventh and eighth inning, and was given the go-ahead to earn his first career save.

He would issue a leadoff walk to Munetaka Murakami and then hit Miguel Vargas.

The Mariners initiated a mound visit, but from pitching coach Pete Woodworth, not Wilson.

It was an effort to allow closer Andres Muñoz more time to warm up, because immediately after Woodworth returned to the dugout, Wilson then attempted a pitching change but was denied by home-plate umpire Ryan Blakney.

Wilson was denied because Castillo did not throw another pitch before he attempted to make the change.

Castillo promptly struck out Colson Montgomery for the first out of the inning, then prompting Wilson to make the call to Muñoz out of the bullpen.

After the White Sox executed a double steal, Chase Meidroth sent a soft single just past Josh Naylor near first base to tie the score at 1-1.

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Andrew Benintendi followed with a soft single that deflected off the glove of a diving Josh Naylor, driving in the winning run.

Dan Wilson on hot seat according to MLB Insider

After the game, Wilson was quick to take responsibility for the blunder, although at the time, it did not cost the Mariners anything.

“You’re not allowed to go back out, and that’s on me,” Wilson said, via MLB.com.

“Dan Wilson confirmed he didn’t know the rules in the postgame interview,” one fan posted on X.

“Really embarrassing stuff, you can debate decisions on a nightly basis, but the manager not knowing basic rules of his job completely undermines the entire operation.”

The hope and expectation is that the Mariners can turn it around and start playing to the level that they are capable of.

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However, if that doesn’t happen, there is a good scenario in which the Mariners might decide to cut ties with Wilson.

MLB insider Zachary Rotman named Wilson as one of the five managers on the hot seat throughout the remainder of the year, and explained why.

“The fact that a team this talented is sitting four games under .500 is hard to brush off,” Rotman wrote.

“Wilson helped get the Mariners as far as they’d ever gotten in the playoffs last season, but that successful season only resulted in higher expectations in 2026.

“You’d think that if Seattle continues to struggle, a major change could be made, and the manager is almost always the first to go,”

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