Former Mariners Manager Scott Servais Saw Jake Bauers’ Breakout Coming Years Before Brewers NLCS MVP Run

Jake Bauers hit two home runs in 72 games for the Mariners. Five years later, he hit his way to the World Series and took home the NLCS MVP award.

Bauers was everywhere during the Milwaukee Brewers’ four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He recorded a hit in every game, drove in six runs and delivered incredibly stubborn at-bats that can make a pitching staff crack. His 12-pitch walk against Yoshinobu Yamamoto helped turn Game 2. His 11-pitch battle with Blake Snell ended with a go-ahead, two-run homer in Game 3.

In Thursday’s clincher, Bauers doubled home two runs and drew a bases-loaded walk as Milwaukee erased an early deficit. That performance made him the first LCS MVP in Brewers history. Honestly, Mariners fans can be forgiven for wondering where any of this came from. But the potential was always there. It just took the Brewers to help unlock it.

Mariners Once Waited for Jake Bauers to Flip the Switch

Seattle acquired Bauers from Cleveland in June 2021 as another entry in Jerry Dipoto’s long-running search for overlooked talent. Bauers was a former Top 100 prospect, still only 25 and freshly DFA’d. The cost was minimal, while the upside was obvious.

Scott Servais even offered what now sounds like an accidental prediction.

“I do think that it takes some players longer to figure it out at the big league level,” Servais said after the trade. “Sometimes it’s a coach, wearing a different uniform, being in a different uniform, that can help somehow flip the switch.”

The switch eventually flipped. It just didn’t happen in a Mariners uniform.

Bauers batted .220/.297/.275 with two home runs, 13 RBIs and a .572 OPS during his Mariners tenure. There was little pop, way too much swing-and-miss and no compelling reason to reserve a long-term roster spot for him. Seattle outrighted him after the season, and Bauers elected free agency.

That decision was hardly scandalous. Bauers moved through Cincinnati, the Yankees and Milwaukee before anything resembling a breakthrough arrived. The Mariners took a reasonable swing on a talented player who was nowhere close to figuring it out.

Jake Bauers Nearly Retired Before His Brewers Breakout

The journey almost ended before Bauers became a hero in this postseason. Milwaukee released him after he hit .199 in 2024. He considered retirement, but his wife encouraged him to reconsider as their family prepared to welcome a second child. He returned to the Brewers on a minor-league contract and began rebuilding his career. Suddenly, it all began to click.

Bauers played a career-high 144 games in 2026, leading Milwaukee with 26 home runs while slashing .266/.389/.484 with a 873 OPS. His 143 wRC+ ranked seventh among qualified MLB hitters. The former Seattle reclamation project had become one of baseball’s most productive hitters at 31 years old.

Bauers explained the change in refreshingly simple terms. He stopped obsessing over results, focused on competing and finally got out of his own way. The Mariners saw the talent years ago. It just took time, and Milwaukee gave it enough room to breathe.

Jake Bauers’ NLCS MVP Rise Leaves Mariners With a Complicated What-If

Could the Mariners have used this version of Bauers? Absolutely. But we don’t need to pretend they committed some historic blunder. No one could have truly predicted this kind of breakout. Bauers required several organizations, hundreds of additional plate appearances and a genuine retirement scare before reaching this point.

Still, there is something painfully familiar about watching a former Mariner find his best baseball somewhere else. It stings a little more when that player has also punished Seattle, hitting .267 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 24 career games against the club.

Bauers represents the maddening reality of reclamation projects. Spotting buried ability is only the first step. Timing, opportunity, coaching and patience determine whether a team ever benefits from it.

Seattle believed Bauers could flip the switch five years ago. They were right. And they were five years and several uniforms too early.