Former Dodgers Skipper Slams Door On Return to Managing

Don Mattingly's first-ever managing assignment, at any level, saw him take over a team that won 80 games and finished fourth in the National League West.

Five years later, the Dodgers were a juggernaut. They had won three consecutive NL West titles, a streak that would eventually grow to eight. But they would do so without Mattingly, who left to manage the Miami Marlins ahead of the 2016 season.

Now the Toronto Blue Jays' bench coach, Mattingly believes he has managed his final MLB game.

"I think the managing side of things is over for me," Mattingly told the Philadelphia Inquirer's Scott Lauber on the Phillies Extra podcast.

"I'm kind of at an age where ... I'm kind of getting to the same point that I got to with Preston (Mattingly's son, a former Dodgers prospect and the Phillies' current farm director) and his older brother," Mattingly said. "My son Louie is 10. He's kind of getting to that age that I want to be involved with that.

"I think the older you get, the less you enjoy the role, the travel, the busses, and the hotels," Mattingly continued. "I still love the ballpark and the field. But it's getting tougher for me to say in a full-time role to have the time, and feel like I have the energy to do it at the manager level. That's a whole different level."

Mattingly, 64, left the Marlins voluntarily after the 2022 season with more wins (437) than any manager in franchise history. He was named the Blue Jays' bench coach prior to the 2023 season.

With the Dodgers, Mattingly went 446-363 in five seasons, but was often blamed for his teams' failure to advance farther in the postseason. The Dodgers' three division titles under Mattingly resulted in one playoff series win, in the 2013 National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves.

Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez sustained a rib fracture in Game 1 of the ensuing NL Championship Series, which the Dodgers lost in six games. That thwarted their best chance to win a World Series under Mattingly.

In Miami, Mattlingly's teams went 443-587, clinched one postseason berth, and won exactly one playoff round. As in Los Angeles, Mattingly's departure from the Marlins was termed a "mutual decision" with the front office.

Now, it appears Mattingly's job with the Blue Jays might be his last in MLB.

"I've enjoyed the bench coach because John Schneider's a good guy," Mattingly told Lauber. "Originally I came in, Schneider was a young manager. He's grown by leaps and bounds since then. He's passed the point of me. He's a really good communicator. The managing side, I feel like, has passed me by.

"Maybe managing Louie's 12-year-old team, maybe I can still do that."