Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Five MLB managers are under intense scrutiny as Memorial Day approaches with teams struggling to meet expectations.
- The pressure is highest on first-year managers and those with expiring contracts, who face immediate consequences for poor performance.
- The next few weeks will test whether front offices make midseason changes to try to salvage their seasons.
MLB teams off to a rough start in the 2026 season can no longer use "it's early" as an excuse. The Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies decided it was late enough for them to fire their managers, after all, and with Memorial Day rapidly approaching, there's a chance other managers will join Alex Cora and Rob Thomson on the unemployment line.
These five managers are feeling the most pressure right now with their teams playing uninspiring baseball for the most part ahead of the two-month mark of the campaign.
5. Dan Wilson, Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners were a team many thought would run away with the AL West and seriously compete for a World Series title this season, but they enter Monday's action with a 22-26 record, good for third place in perhaps the weakest division in the sport right now. What's even crazier is that, while they're an impressive 7-1 against the lowly Houston Astros, they're 15-25 against everyone else.
The Mariners have run into bad injury luck, but this team just hasn't played well really all year. They're only 2.0 games back in the division, which helps remove some of the pressure that Dan Wilson is facing, but the fact that a team this talented is sitting four games under .500 is hard to brush off.
Wilson helped get the Mariners as far as they'd ever gotten in the playoffs last season, but that successful season only resulted in higher expectations in 2026. You'd think that if Seattle continues to struggle, a major change could be made, and the manager is almost always the first to go.
4. Tony Vitello, San Francisco Giants
It's rare for MLB managers to be fired during their first season on the job, but it's also rare for managers to be in Tony Vitello's position. The San Francisco Giants hired Vitello, who had success as a manager at the collegiate level, without any experience as a coach, let alone as a manager, at the professional level. This was a risk by Buster Posey that no other executive had ever taken, and it's backfiring so far.
Even after winning two of three over the weekend, the Giants are 20-27, good for fourth place in the NL West. It isn't necessarily Vitello's fault that his team is underperforming, but it also feels like Vitello is not an MLB manager right now. San Francisco probably won't fire him in year one of a three-year deal, but Vitello must be feeling all kinds of pressure to prove he belongs.
3. Carlos Mendoza, New York Mets
David Stearns has publicly backed Carlos Mendoza on more than one occasion, and the New York Mets have been playing much better baseball lately, successfully completing a 5-1 homestand and winning four of their last five series overall. These factors ease some of the pressure off of the skipper, but the fact of the matter is that he's in the final year of his contract — and even with their better performance lately, New York remains 20-26, sitting in sole possession of last place in the NL East.
I've said all year that the Mets' struggles were not on Mendoza, but I didn't necessarily think Cora and Thomson were the reason why their teams weren't playing well, either. If the Mets hit another skid before Memorial Day, there might not be a way for Stearns, who is feeling a lot of pressure himself, to light a spark other than to fire Mendoza, despite the fact that he previously shot down any such notion.
2. Kurt Suzuki, Los Angeles Angels
Kurt Suzuki was always going to be facing a ton of pressure this season given that he signed only a one-year deal to manage the Los Angeles Angels last winter. Yes, a manager who has never managed before is a lame duck for one of the most dysfunctional organizations in the sport. This makes it so that Suzuki has no time to settle in — he must produce results immediately to prove he belongs.
Well, the Angels were 11-11 a month ago, but they've gone 5-20 since. Their 16-31 overall record is tnow he worst mark in the Majors. No, this isn't Suzuki's fault; Perry Minasian assembled a roster that was never going to win anything this season. But that also doesn't matter: One of the only moves that can realistically be made any time soon to light a spark would be to fire Suzuki, a manager they didn't commit long-term to anyway.
Even if Los Angeles opt to hold onto Suzuki for the year, he has to be feeling the pressure, because this is his one and potentially only chance to prove himself. He has no time to settle in and hope things turn around. Having the worst record in the sport won't bode well when it comes to his managerial hopes in future years, and that only adds to the heat he's under.
1. Joe Espada, Houston Astros
The Houston Astros could've easily fired Joe Espada after missing the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade in 2025, but they didn't, electing to give him at least one more year. Well, the Astros are 19-29 this season, and if it weren't for the laughing stock that is the Angels, they'd be the worst team in the AL West.
It isn't Espada's fault that the pitching staff isn't any good and that injuries have ran rampant, but 19-29 for a team that had postseason aspirations entering the year is hard to excuse, especially when his track record to this point has been fairly underwhelming.
Houston is desperate to salvage its contending window, and GM Dana Brown is desperate to save his job. Espada must know that, and since both he and Brown are on expiring contracts, he's running out of time to save his job. It feels like if we're going to get another midseason managerial firing, it'll be Espada getting the pink slip.
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