The only team without a pennant is now also without a manager.

Scott Servais was fired on Thursday after leading the team since 2016.

This seemed to be the year of turnaround, but the team fell into a prolonged crisis after building a ten-game lead in the American League West by June 19.

Since then, the team has achieved a record of 20-33 – a worse record than any rival except the hapless Chicago White Sox (10-43 in the same period).

As a result, Seattle blew its 10-game lead in 24 games and began Thursday’s game five games behind the Houston Astros in the division and seven and a half games behind the race for the final wild-card spot in the American League.

After a 1-8 road trip, Seattle’s record was 64-64 – not what baseball president Jerry Dipoto had envisioned for his pitcher-rich team. He responded by firing Servais, who had been on the job longer than any other Seattle pilot except Lou Piniella.

In fact, only Piniella, who coached the Mariners for ten seasons, had a better winning percentage than Servais, who finished at .515 (680-642).

Servais, 59, a former catcher with no previous managerial experience, was hired after the 2015 season. He was an immediate success, leading the club to an 86-76 record, one of five winning seasons his teams have had.

A lack of hitting ruined Seattle’s 2024 season. The team sabotaged a solid pitching staff with a team average of .216, an on-base percentage of .301 and a slugging average of .365 this season, and struck out more often than any other team with a strikeout rate of 27.7%.

Dipoto signed outfielder Randy Arozarena from the Tampa Bay Rays just before the July 30 trade deadline, but failed to produce immediate results. Previous Dipoto trades also had mixed results — notably the one that sent flame-throwing closer Edwin Diaz to the New York Mets in a multi-player deal that netted Jarred Kelenic (now with Atlanta).

The Mariners won 90 games in 2021 and 2022, reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2001. However, they were still 88 games short of winning last year’s series with 88 wins.

They beat the Blue Jays in Toronto in the three-game 2022 American League wild-card series, but were swept by the Astros in the AL division series. A year later, they were eliminated from the playoffs after their 161st game, when Seattle had hoped to host both the All-Star Game (which it did) and its first World Series (which it did not).

The signs of this year’s impending apocalypse were there early. The offense was so bad that Brant Brown, a confidant of Servais, was fired as offensive coordinator on May 31, and rumors of further changes to the team began to swirl – especially after ownership, struggling with declining revenue from its regional sports network, decided to cut salaries.

Servais will be replaced by another former catcher, Dan Wilson, according to reports in The athleteWilson is a member of the Mariners Hall of Fame, but has never served as a manager or coach in the major leagues.

The new manager served as a major league catcher from 1992 to 2005, primarily with the Mariners, and later became Seattle’s minor league catcher coach. He also served as a special assistant during major league spring training.

Salary terms were not immediately disclosed.

In addition to Wilson, the M’s hope to bolster their stagnant offense by adding Hall of Fame hitter Edgar Martinez to their coaching staff.

Martinez, a seven-time All-Star and four-time playoff qualifier, spent his entire 18-year career with Seattle, batting .312 with a .418 on-base percentage, a .515 slugging percentage and 309 home runs.

Within seven years, he was named Outstanding Designated Hitter (now the Edgar Martinez Award) five times.