The Phillies have fired their manager — and now all eyes will be on the Mets.
Rob Thomson was dumped Tuesday in his fifth season at the helm as Philadelphia is tied with the Mets for the worst record in MLB (9-19.)
Don Mattingly, who was the team’s bench coach, will take over as interim manager.
Thomson, 62, took over for Joe Girardi in the middle of the 2022 season after serving as his bench coach and led them to a World Series appearance; they lost to the Astros in six games.
The Phillies won at least 90 games in each of the last three seasons, reaching the NLCS in 2023 and the NLDS in 2024 and ’25.
Expectations remained high entering this season, but the Phillies, like the Mets, have been a colossal disappointment 28 games in.
Their .219 batting average is second-worst in MLB and their 102 runs scored are third-fewest; the Mets are last with 92 runs.
The Phillies also have the third-worst ERA in baseball at 5.13.
Third baseman Alec Bohm has been one of the big culprits, hitting just .143 with a .412 OPS in 98 at-bats.
Aaron Nola has a 6.03 ERA through six starts, Jesus Luzardo has a 6.91 ERA through five starts and Taijuan Walker was released after allowing 23 earned runs in 22 ⅔ innings.
Mattingly, the 65-year-old Yankees great, was the Blue Jays bench coach the last three seasons. He left the team after its run to the World Series last fall.
He was the Dodgers manager from 2011-15 and led them to the playoffs in each of his last three seasons there. He left after the Dodgers’ NLDS loss to the Mets in 2015.
Mattingly then became the Marlins manager and lasted seven seasons. The team only made the playoffs once during his tenure, during the COVID-shortened 2020 season; they lost in the NLDS to the Braves.
Third base coach Dusty Wathan is taking over as bench coach, and Triple-A manager Anthony Contreras will take Wathan’s place at third.
Philadelphia became the second team in MLB to fire their manager this season after the Red Sox dumped Alex Cora and five members of his staff on Saturday.
Will the Mets follow suit? Cora, who led the Red Sox to a World Series title in 2018, figures to be in the mix for the Phillies if he wants to jump right back to work.
