The Scott Servais era came to an unceremonious end last week, as the Mariners parted ways with their longtime manager. After eight years and four months, Seattle is moving on. 

Servais led the team to a 44-31 record on June 21st and at the time held a ten-game lead in the American League West. However, a historic collapse ensued, and after a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers dropped the Mariners to a .500 record (64-64), Servais was sent packing. The Mariners are looking for answers, and now it is former Mariners star Dan Wilson who takes the reins.

Reflecting on Servais’ time with the Mariners, it can be defined by inconsistency, with high highs, low lows, and extreme streaks during the seasons. 

Scott Servais was hired on Oct. 23, 2015. The former big-league catcher (1991-2001) and Olympic Gold Medalist (Baseball, 1988) had served as the Rangers Director of Player Development from 2004-2010 but had never coached before. He had worked as the assistant General Manager under Jerry Dipoto with the Angels, so it was not a surprise when Dipoto, having recently been hired as the Mariner’s new GM, brought Servais in with him. 

The Mariners were coming off a difficult 2015 season in which the team under performed and subsequently fired their head coach Lloyd McClendon. Servais inherited a team that included all-stars Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager in the lineup, and a rotation anchored by Mariners legend King Felix Hernandez. Despite a solid core, the team had a lot of holes, and Servais drew praise for leading the team to an 86-76 record in year one. 

In 2017 the Mariners made more moves to win, hoping to break a playoff drought that began in 2001. Bringing in all-star shortstop Jean Segura and rookie outfielder Mitch Haniger, the team had assembled a top-ten offense. The Mariners had an up-and-down season, ultimately finishing with a 78-84 record. A solid season, but again coming up short of the playoffs, 

Servais brought the Mariners into the national spotlight in 2018, when the team soared to a 58-39 record on July 20. With the fourth-best record in baseball, Seattle was considered a near-lock for the playoffs. Breakout stars James Paxton and Marco Gonzales provided depth behind Felix in the rotation, and flamethrower Edwin Diaz had burst onto the scene as a top closer in baseball. Servais was extended for his work, but things went south almost immediately after, and their playoff chances slipped away. The Mariners still won 88 games, but missed out on the postseason again, being surpassed by the Oakland Athletics. 

That off-season Servais watched as his team was traded away. Cano, Cruz, Segura, Paxton and Diaz, among others, were gone. Thus 2019 was the beginning of a rebuild. Servais led the Mariners to a blistering 13-2 record to start the season but went 55-92 the rest of the way. 

The Mariners similarly struggled in 2020. They finished 27-33 in the COVID-shortened season. But the rebuild was about to end and Servais was about to make a name for himself. 

In 2021, he led the Mariners to their first 90-win season since 2003. The Mariners still missed the playoffs by two games, but their 90-72 record represented the end of a rebuild and the beginning of a new era. Servais finished second in Manager of the Year voting and signed another extension. He was lauded for finding a way to win 90 games because the Mariners somehow did it with a -51 run differential, the worst ever for a 90-win team. 

Hoping to build on the success of 2021, Seattle called up young star Julio Rodriguez in 2022. The team struggled early, at 29-39 in mid-June. But Servais did not let them give up. The Mariners scorched through July and August and into the postseason for the first time in twenty years. Scott Servais became just the second manager in Mariners history to appear in the playoffs and win a playoff series. 

For Servais, the playoffs were a historic accomplishment but also put him in the most pressure he would ever be in. Taking on the Astros in the ALDS, he made a decision that would define his managerial career going forward. With a 7-5 lead in a critical game one, Servais turned to former CY-young winner Robbie Ray to make the final out of the ninth inning. The Astros were threatening, with two on base, and slugger Yordan Alvarez at the plate in the bottom of the ninth. 

The decision was based on sound logic. Bring in your best available pitcher, whether or not he is a traditional reliever. Unfortunately for him, it backfired royally. Alvarez took Ray deep, a walk-off home run for Houston, who would go on to sweep the Mariners in three games. Servais was subject to heavy criticism from fans, many of whom never forgave him. 

Hoping to build on the success of 2022, the Mariners acquired all-stars Teoscar Hernandez and Kolten Wong, to go along with an offense that had already been bolstered by Eugenio Suarez the year before. The rotation, meanwhile, featured young stars George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, alongside ace Luis Castillo. Homegrown stars Cal Raleigh and JP Crawford had broken out in 2022, and the Mariners suddenly had built what looked like a real contender for 2023. 

Once again, however, the team struggled early. Wong and Hernandez proved inconsequential and the Mariners found themselves four games below .500 in July. Yet, they never gave up. Servais and the Mariners went on a scorching run, winning 21 of 25 games in August, and taking the lead of the AL West, at 77-58, by Sept 2. Then, with the season on the line, the Mariners collapsed. They went 11-16 to close the year and missed the playoffs by a game. 

Still, Scott looked in good shape in 2024. With second-year starters Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller bolstering a rotation that was ranked as the best in baseball by MLB Network, the Mariners held a ten-game lead over Houston in June. It looked like Scott was a sure bet for an extension and a potential Manager of the Year award. 

It is incredible how fast things can change. The Mariners went on a 20-33 skid, the Astros won 35 games in the same span. With his own job on the line as well, Jerry Dipoto bid farewell to his longtime partner. 

It was a sad way to go out. Seattle’s offense was rocking a .191 average in the month of August, on pace to be one of the worst offensive months ever. Scott learned of his fate the same way we did; from a Twitter notification. A brutal reminder of the media environment we live in, in which reporters (in this case, Ken Rosenthal) are privy to information that even Servais himself was not. 

Servais ultimately finished with a winning managerial record of 668-624, with a 2-3 playoff record. He finished with 5 winning seasons (2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023), and 3 losing seasons (2017, 2019, 2020). Despite the relative success, he only led the Mariners to a single playoff appearance in eight years and failed to win a division title. 

It is fair to give Servais a pass for missing the postseason in 2016-17, considering it was his first time coaching. However, blowing their top-four record in baseball in 2018 is a different case. The Mariners should have been a playoff team in 2018, based on their talent and their first-half success. 

Again, 2019-20 can be written off as rebuilding seasons, and 2021 will always be the greatest success of Servais. In 2022, he led the Mariners to the playoffs, cementing himself as the second-best coach in team history. But missing the playoffs in 2023 and under performing in 2024 proved costly for him. 

Ultimately, when looking at the 2018, 2022, 2023 and 2024 teams, all four had the talent (and winning streaks) to be in the postseason. Those teams had a 25% playoff rate. Whether or not Servais is most to blame can be debated, but there is no denying that the optics are not great. 

Servais’ teams tended to be streaky. Hot starts in 2018, 2019 and 2024 gave way to cold finishes. Slow starts in 2020, 2021 and 2022 led to strong finishes, and late-season playoff pushes. 2023 featured a historically great August (21-4) followed by a lifeless September (11-17). There is no denying Servais could motivate a team and push their limits of success. He had a unique ability to turn around losing streaks and find life in his players, but the opposite was also true. During cold stretches, the Mariners would often look lifeless, lacking motivation and energy. Scott, often appearing calm and relaxed, may have lacked the energy needed to get a team through a full 162-game schedule. 

For instance, in 2024 the Mariners have particularly struggled in road games against bad teams, especially in road day games. It can be easy for players to “throw it in” on such games, and play with less energy. A crucial job of the manager is to make sure that does not happen, to make sure that the players play every game with the same amount of importance. A Friday night game in Seattle against the Astros holds the same weight in the standings as a Wednesday morning road game in Detroit. In 2024, Seattle is 24-25 in day games and 27-35 on the road. 

Servais’ tenure also featured its fair share of controversies with players. In 2018, as the club was collapsing, a fight broke out between Dee Gordon and Segura. In 2022, outfielder Jesse Winker caused drama in the clubhouse, according to team beat reporter Ryan Divish. His lack of work ethic caused a rift between him and Haniger, who was the team’s captain. Haniger and Winker’s divide may have also formed a wedge in Haniger’s relationship with Servais. 

In 2023, young outfielder Jarred Kelenic broke his foot after striking out and kicking a cooler in anger. When he returned to the squad in September, Servais relegated him to a platoon role, despite Kelenic’s strong September numbers. In a year Seattle missed the playoffs by a single game, Kelenic’s presence was missed, both in September and during his IL stint. 

Upon his firing, ESPN analyst Jeff Passan told 710 Seattle Radio that “there were unresolved issues” in the Mariners clubhouse related to Servais, and that some players “were never bought in.” 

Those claims were echoed by former player Cameron Maybin. “I felt like he had a lot of opportunities… ” said Maybin.  “Scott Servais wasn’t the best communicator in my eyes…I don’t know if the boys ever felt like this guy has our back.” 

Regardless of the ending, Scott Servais was still a successful manager for the Seattle Mariners. He did something only one other coach had done, winning a playoff series for the Mariners, and finishing with a winning career record.

With Servais now out, President Dipoto will be under intense scrutiny for the remainder of the season. His contract expires at the end of 2024 and if the M’s do not turn it around, he could be the next to go. Dipoto’s choice to fire Servais indicates that he may be the scapegoat to save Dipoto’s job, but considering the state of the Mariners, owner John Stanton may decide to move on from Dipoto as well at season’s end.

Scott Servais was a good, not great, manager, and Mariners fans should always appreciate and thank him for his crucial role in bringing the postseason back to Seattle.