Legendary Mariners Manager Reveals Interesting Detail About Team's Current Skipper
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The Seattle Mariners are in the thick of a crowded American League playoff picture, but are in a good position to create separation from the rest of the field.
As of Wednesday, the Mariners are 41-37, 4.5 games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West and 1.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians for the final AL Wild Card spot. Seattle is in the middle of a stretch of 17 consecutive games without a day off, including a 10-game road trip.
The Mariners have gone 4-1 through the first five games of the road trip, and could carve out a nice foothold in the playoff picture with a winning record on the road trip.
If Seattle does ultimately make the playoffs, Dan Wilson would become the third manager in franchise history to lead the team to the postseason. The first skipper to do so, Lou Piniella, revealed that he was a supporter for Wilson taking over the job before the latter was hired Aug. 22, 2024.
Piniella revealed this information in a video with legendary former NFL coach Jon Gruden in a video for Barstool Sports, which Gruden currently works for.
"I recommended Danny for the job," Piniella said. "And he's doing a good job. He's a good kid. I had a reputation of being tough on (catchers). ... But that's not true. I was just teaching them how to call a game and how to keep the other team from hitting the long ball on us. But he's good. He really is, he's good."
It's baseball season and that means one of the biggest boxes we've gotten all the way from Seattle!
— Jon Gruden (@BarstoolGruden) June 24, 2025
The Mariners sent over a great box and I had my friend and MLB LEGEND Lou Piniella help me open it!
Thank you Coach Wilson and the @Mariners... keep hitting bombs Big Dumper! pic.twitter.com/v6MuzinqHG
Wilson played 12 seasons as a catcher for Seattle from 1994-2005. Piniella managed the team from 1993-2002, which encapsulated nine of Wilson's 12 seasons with the franchise.
Piniella finished with an 840-711 record as Seattle's manager and led the club to the postseaon four times in 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2001. Three of those years (1995, 2000, 2001), the team made the American League Championship Series. They were the only playoff berths in franchise history before the team made the postseason in 2022 under former manager Scott Servais.
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