Commentary: Scott Servais isn’t fully to blame for Mariners’ collapse but something had to be done

Scott Servais sat in front of a microphone and forecasted the future. His Mariners had just expended everything in a six-hour, 22-minute marathon, allowing 18 innings and 262 pitches to pass without scoring a run. In a 1-0 loss to the rival Astros in Game 3 of the 2022 American League Division Series, 47,690 teal towels waved inside T-Mobile Park for the first time in more than two decades.

The season was over. The drought was dead.

Better days were ahead.

Related Mariners’ Scott Servais expected to be fired and replaced by Dan Wilson, report says

“We were starved to get playoff baseball here. We got it here,” said Servais, the longtime catcher, who had just concluded his seventh season in Seattle. “Now we need to take the next step to improve our club in any way we can. We’re still behind the Astros. They won the division, and I’ll keep saying it: the World Series is going to go through Houston, and you have to beat them. So we have to get better in certain areas, and certainly we will address that this offseason.

“But from the fan base to ownership to front office to the players, coaches, manager, everybody, we want to get back here. We will be back here. There’s no question in my mind.”

Now, imagine telling one of the 47,690 fans inside T-Mobile Park on Oct. 15, 2022, about the nearly two seasons since — the parade of underperforming veterans disguised as key additions, the 54% comment that encapsulated a fan base’s frustrations, the historic string of strikeouts, the squandered quality starts, the dreaded plea for “payroll flexibility,” the 10-game lead that disintegrated in 24 games, the gallons of goodwill unceremoniously spilled into Puget Sound.

The reported firing of Scott Servais Thursday.

If you told them that story, they’d never believe it.

Or, sadly, they actually might. It’s so very Mariners.

This is a franchise, after all, that has never sniffed a World Series; that lugged the longest postseason drought in North American sports on its blistered back; that asks for loyalty and money and patience and time and pays with promises.

As for Servais? The 57-year-old former Mariners manager — let that fact sink in — is not wholly responsible for the 677 days since he failed to forecast the future. He isn’t to blame for the Mariners’ MLB-most 1,308 strikeouts this season, nor the .216 team batting average that trails even the 31-97 White Sox, somehow burrowing below the basement. He didn’t sign Mitch Garver, Luis Urias, Kolten Wong, AJ Pollock, Tommy La Stella, etc., in the last two offseasons, largely reinforcement retirees. He didn’t blow a hole in his own boat before casting off on a six-month cruise.

Consider something else Servais said on Oct. 15, 2022:

“We’ve started something we believe very strongly in. We’ve got a great core of young players. We’ve got an ownership group that’s committed to bringing playoff baseball back here year in and year out, to ultimately win a World Series.”

That ownership group and front office largely failed Servais.

And yet, facts are facts.

Fact is, the Mariners are 12-18 in the second half. They’re 5-17 in their last 22 games against losing teams, excluding the astronomically awful White Sox. They just wrapped a 1-8 road trip, which started with a tie for first in the AL West and ended with a five-game deficit. They’re a .500 club with an exceptional starting staff, an incompetent offense and a bleeding bullpen.

And, same as 677 days ago, they’re behind the hated Astros. Even further than before.

Fact is, MLB managers are paid handsomely to produce — to squeeze every ounce of talent and potential and sustainable success out of their assembled squad. To provide an environment where every player can become the best version of themselves. It’s impossible to conclude, as the Mariners tumble toward mediocrity, that Servais effectively maximized his available resources.

Fact is, this was supposed to be the year to win a weakened AL West, with the surprisingly mortal Astros (68-58) and Rangers (59-69) allowing ample opportunities to dominate the division.

Fact is, something had to be done.

It started Thursday with the dismissal of Servais and hire of Dan Wilson, according to a report by The Athletic, Seattle’s desperation move to save a sunken season. If the Mariners can’t miraculously resurrect their playoff hopes in the final 33 games, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander should be the next to go.

Ultimately, it’s unlikely that inserting a different voice in the dugout for a 33-game sprint will redirect the Mariners from caroming off a cliff. But given the last few months (and years), it’s a necessary move for a franchise actively wasting its winning window.

Fact is, that 18-inning marathon — where a pristine pitching performance was foiled by an inversely feeble offense — served as a teaser for the nearly two seasons since.

So much for better days.