I made this very clear on an episode of the 'Refuse to Lose' podcast this week: I don't see Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson as the reason that the team is not playing in the World Series this weekend.

His handling of pitching decisions in Game 7 were certainly questionable, and I certainly disagree, but I don't believe they cost the Mariners the game, or the series, or the season.

I stand by that take, and Wilson stands by his decisions. And I don't expect him to publicly come out and say he was wrong because that would show a lack of trust in the players he used in certain situations. Especially just a few days after the season ended. No one has fully processed what happened yet.

However, this is also true. At some point this offseason, Wilson needs to sit down and reflect. And he needs to learn from the 2025 campaign. Not just from those pitching decisions, and not just from Game 7, but from the season as a whole.

We ask players to evolve over the course of an offseason, and we can ask the same of a first-year manager. Some things he did clearly worked. Some things can clearly be improved. This would have been the case no matter the outcome of the season.

I asked Buster Olney of ESPN this week about how managers go about improving: 

Well, ​first ​and ​foremost, ​they ​have ​to ​be ​open ​minded. ​And ​I ​think ​Dan ​is... ​I'm ​not ​going ​to ​pretend ​that ​I ​know ​him ​well, ​but ​just ​my ​interactions, ​​during ​this ​post ​season, ​you ​have ​to ​be ​open ​minded. ​I ​think ​he ​clearly ​is...​You ​learn ​as ​you ​go ​through ​these ​things ​and ​you ​gain ​experience ​and it's ​why, ​you ​know, ​Joe ​Torre, ​years ​and ​years ​and years of ​managing, ​and ​Bobby ​Cox, ​years ​of ​managing, ​they ​would ​tell ​you ​that ​by ​the ​time ​they ​went ​through ​their ​second ​trip, ​third ​trip, ​through ​the ​postseason, ​there ​were ​things ​that ​they ​had ​gleaned ​from ​their ​first ​trips ​that ​they ​would ​later ​on ​use. ​And ​I ​think ​that's ​going ​to ​be ​the ​case ​with ​Dan ​Wilson.

You can listen to the full interview with Olney below:

So, I don't need Dan Wilson to tell me everything he did wrong, but I just need him to kn- I just need to know that he is, at some point, going to reflect and think about what happened, think about what worked, think about what didn't, think about certain situations, think about how he handled this, how he handled that.

I just need to know that Dan Wilson is learning from what went on this season. That's it.

You can hear more thoughts on the most recent episode of the Refuse to Lose podcast.

LATEST PODCAST IS OUT: Brady Farkas is back for the the latest episode of the Refuse to Lose podcast! He talks about the end of season press conference and gives his biggest disappointment from it. Furthermore, he talks about the team's payroll situation and he's joined by Teren Kowatsch, who was there. Furthermore, he talks more about the devastating loss in Game 7 and he talks about the emotion of it all with the Marine Layer guys, TJ and Lyle. LISTEN HERE: 

ONE MORE TIME FOR CAL: As the Mariners season ended, manager Dan Wilson gave one more reflection on the historic season from his catcher. CLICK HERE: 

BOUNCING BACK CAN BE DONE: The Mariners lost the ALCS in a very similar fashion in 2000, and then had a historic season in 2001. Bouncing back can be done, even if it seems impossible. CLICK HERE:

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