FILE – Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Don Mattingly watches from the dugout steps during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, April 5, 2026, in Denver.
David Zalubowski/AP
As the San Francisco Giants prepare for a three-game series in Philadelphia starting on Tuesday, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced the club had fired manager Rob Thomson. The move comes after the Phillies have lost 15 of their last 18 games (a stretch which started with two losses in San Francisco on April 7-8) and sit in last place in the NL East with a 9-19 record.
In Thomson’s place, the Phillies named Don Mattingly as interim manager, someone who should be an incredibly familiar face to Giants fans. The baseball lifer managed the Dodgers from 2011-2015, helping start the run of winning 12 of the last 13 NL West titles. (Giants fans, of course, know which year they didn’t win the division in that time.) Mattingly is perhaps best remembered by the rivals up in San Francisco for an incident from the year before he became manager, though, when he was still a hitting coach.
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On July 20, 2010, both Dodgers manager Joe Torre and bench coach Bob Schaefer had been ejected arguing about inside pitches and beanballs, leaving Mattingly in charge. The Giants were down 5-4 in the ninth inning but had the bases loaded with one out when Mattingly went to the mound to discuss strategy with Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton, stepped off the mound briefly, then returned when first baseman James Loney asked him a question.
After that return, Giants manager Bruce Bochy went to the umpires and argued Mattingly had left and returned the mound, and said Mattingly had violated Rule 8.06 in the baseball rulebook — which dictates a second mound visit in a single inning requires a team to remove their pitcher. The umpires agreed, forcing Broxton to exit and the Giants capitalized on the new reliever to score three runs and win the game, 7-5.
Mattingly went on to have five straight winning seasons in Los Angeles, but only won a single playoff series during his time in charge and was fired after 2015. (Dave Roberts has since taken over and led the Dodgers to three championships and five World Series appearances.) Mattingly then managed the Marlins for seven years, leading them to the playoffs once, and was the Blue Jays bench coach for three years, which included losing to the Dodgers in the World Series last year.
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Mattingly will now officially work for one of his sons — Preston Mattingly is the Phillies general manager — in what is believed to be the first father-son GM/manager combination in baseball history.
Thomson went 355-270 and led a Philadelphia team loaded with high-priced talent that included Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner to consecutive division titles. The 62-year-old Thomson, a baseball lifer finally promoted to his first managerial stint in 2022, signed a contract extension in the offseason running through the 2027 season and was again expected to lead the Phillies into World Series contention.
Instead, the Phillies and their $300-plus million payroll have been one of the biggest flops in the baseball and lost 10 straight games before ace Zack Wheeler led them to a win against Atlanta on Saturday. The Phillies lost to Atlanta on Sunday and fell to 9-19 overall, tied with the division rival New York Mets.
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Thomson is the second manager fired in baseball this season after the Red Sox fired Alex Cora and five coaches on Saturday.
Thomson led Philadelphia to the 2022 World Series after taking over for Girardi, losing to the Houston Astros in six games. Since then, the club has regressed in the postseason. It lost in the NL Championship Series in 2023 in seven games, and the NL Division Series in 2024 and ’25 in four games.
Thomson became only the fourth manager in big league history to reach the postseason in each of the first four full seasons to begin a managing career, joining Dave Roberts, Aaron Boone and Mike Matheny. He became only the third manager in Phillies history to win consecutive division titles, joining Charlie Manuel and Danny Ozark.
The Phillies have been awful in what was supposed to be a celebratory season with the franchise set to host the All-Star Game and its surrounding festivities. Instead, they have collapsed in every aspect of the game, with regulars Alec Bohm and Schwarber both hitting under .200, while starters Jesús Luzardo, Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter all have 5.00-plus ERAs.
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The Phillies just released high-priced bust Taijuan Walker in the final year of a four-year, $72 million contract and outfielder Nick Castellanos was released in February as he entered the final year of a five-year, $100 million deal.
The Phillies now will turn to Mattingly, the former New York Yankees great, to resuscitate their season and try to at least keep them in the hunt for an NL wild-card spot. Mattingly played 14 seasons as a first baseman in the major leagues, all for the Yankees, from 1982-95. He was a six-time American League All-Star and the 1985 AL Most Valuable Player before retiring. Mattingly captained the Yankees in his final five seasons.
Mattingly was thrilled in January at the chance of possibly winning his first World Series ring while working for the same franchise as his son.
“To be able to do it with him,” Mattingly said, “would be incredible.”
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So, at this point, would be leading the Phillies to the postseason.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.