The '54 Percent' Joke Keeps Rearing its Ugly Head For Seattle Mariners
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At the end of the 2023 season, Seattle Mariners executive Jerry Dipoto made comments that will stick with him for the rest of his Mariners' tenure, however long that is.
After missing the playoffs that season, Dipoto came out and said that the organizations that win at a 54 percent clip over a 10-year period historically make the playoffs consistently and play for a World Series. While his comments do make sense, in terms of organizations wanting to build a sustainable winner instead of a one-off, they rubbed the fanbase the wrong way.
Fans saw the comments as the team being "ok" with being "good enough," rather than stepping up efforts to build a true winner. The Mariners are the only organization to never even play in a World Series.
In which Jerry Dipoto says the Mariners goal is to win 54% of the time and “we’re actually doing the fan base a favor” by operating how they do. pic.twitter.com/rhglaZmb57
— Mariner Muse (@MarinerMuse) October 3, 2023
Unfortunately, those comments have haunted Dipoto and the "54 percent" phrase has become a punching bag among M's fans.
After the Mariners lost on Tuesday night to fall to 33-33 on the season, the team is now is 54-46 under Dan Wilson's stewardship, which began in August of last season. That winning percentage? You guessed it. Fifty-four percent.
Dan Wilson has won 54 of his first 100 games as manager of the Mariners.
— Mariner Muse (@MarinerMuse) June 11, 2025
A special achievement! Jerry got his guy! pic.twitter.com/zMyiVG3LK6
At least I have great seats today to watch the 54 percent in action! 🤦🏼♂️ pic.twitter.com/JXMLIWM03K
— Adam Lewandowski (@Polishthunder83) June 11, 2025
The Mariners are reeling right now, having lost seven of their last eight games. They've fallen to 3.0 games back in the American League West and there are real questions about the direction of the organization.
The M's will be back in action on Wednesday afternoon at 12:40 p.m. PT against the Diamondbacks as they look to avoid the sweep. Seattle will be off on Thursday.
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