The Philadelphia Phillies have fired manager Rob Thomson following a 9-19 start to the 2026 MLB campaign. The .321 win percentage is the team’s worst start in over 20 years.
In his place, the team has named bench coach Don Mattingly interim manager. Third base coach Dusty Wathan will take over bench duties for Mattingly, while Triple-A manager Anthony Contreras will be elevated to 3rd base coach with the big league club.
According to the team’s press release, Mattingly will serve as interim manager for the duration of the season.
Adding to the intrigue, is that according to reports, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski originally offered the job to former Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora who was let go by the team earlier this week. The timeline suggests that Cora was offered the job on Sunday, but ultimately declined the position on Monday, forcing Dombrowski to pivot to Mattingly.
“I felt like we needed a new voice in there — a little different feeling in the clubhouse at this point,” Dombrowski said. “Rob was the first to admit that he doesn’t know what’s really going on. He’s a little bit surprised by how we’ve performed. … I just thought at this time, it was the right time to get a different voice with some different direction.”
“We never got down to the nuts and bolts of things, but I did talk to [Cora},” Dombrowski continued. “He actually called me Saturday night as a friend. I guess he calls me one of his mentors, and we talked because he never had been through that before.”
“We talked [again on] Sunday morning. … We talked about potentially taking the [Phillies] job. I came to conclusion that if he took it, I would make a change. I thought he might take it. But as time went on over the next day, into Monday morning, it was apparent from his perspective he wanted to take time with his family.”
Dombrowski and Cora spent time with the Red Sox organization prior to him taking on his role with the Phillies, making the two more than just acquaintances.
The move brings an end to one of the most head scratching starts to the 2026 MLB season. Philadelphia, fresh off back to back NL East titles, entered the season as a favourite to reach the World Series. Instead, they enter Tuesdays slate of games tied with the Mets for the worst record in baseball.
Thomson ends his tenure with the club with a 355-270 record after taking over for Joe Girardi in June of 2022. He had previously signed an extension to stay on with the team through the 2027 season, but will now become a free agent on the coaching marketplace as the second major domino to fall through the first quarter of the season.
Philadelphia will next be in action against the San Francisco Giants at 6:40pm ET in Mattingly’s debut as interim manager.
Photo: Caleb Spicer. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.