Mariners’ Dan Wilson discusses dealing with devastating losses

We speak to Dan Wilson about the fallout from Wednesday night’s tough 2-1 loss to the Yankees and how the Mariners go about bouncing back.

There’s no two ways of putting it – Wednesday night’s 2-1 loss to the New York Yankees in extra innings, was devastating to the Seattle Mariners and their playoff chances. It was a game where the home side outplayed their visitors, but ultimately were undone by a lack of offense and an unintentional but costly mistake by Julio Rodríguez.

As a result, the Mariners now find themselves facing almost mission impossible with just 10 games remaining in the 2024 season, and Tom Cruise nowhere in sight to help them out. Ahead of Thursday’s slate of action, they are 5.0 games back of the Houston Astros at the top their division, while also 3.0 games out of the American League’s third and final wild card spot.

The 2-1 loss to the Yankees was arguably the toughest of the season for the Mariners, and definitely for Dan Wilson in his short time as their manager. As such, we wanted to get his take on how he deals with such an outcome.

We started off by asking Wilson how his previous and extensive experience as a Major League player helps the ball club in getting over such a demoralizing loss. He said:

“Yeah, when you’re in this game these things happen. These are the type of things in baseball – it’s an up and down game and you run into these kinds of nights. I think the more we can stay on a level playing field in terms of our emotions, the better. So we come out today, we try to execute the same way we did yesterday and we try to get over the hump.”

No magic pill for Wilson and the Mariners

The 55-year-old knows there is no miracle cure for getting over such a tough loss as the one to the Yankees, but he has faith in his players and their mental fortitude to respond positively. He said:

“There isn’t a magic pill to something like that, but I think over the course of the last month or so these guys have shown the ability to be resilient and bounce back from losses. Today is a chance to do that again and it’s a group that wants to pull together, so that’s what they need to rely on each other to do.”

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Comparing tough losses as a player and manager

Finally, we asked how such a loss as a manager compares for him, versus when he was a player? He said:

“It’s the same. I don’t know that there’s a way to quantify it properly, but as a player obviously it will feel a little bit different, but as a manager you feel the same as well. But today, again, comes the chance to right it, so let’s go out there and do it.”

Wilson will of course also rely on the support of his coaching staff, to help the players recover from Wednesday night’s game in an appropriate way. Overall, while the Mariners’ playoff hopes for this season might be fading — although, we’re more than happy to be proven wrong — the future of the organisation is in good hands, as it should be with a quality former Major League catcher.

The Mariners may or may not make the playoffs this season. Regardless, how do you view what Wilson brings to the team as manager? How much confidence does he give you for the future in Seattle? Let us know in the comments section below.