Phillies To Decide On Mattingly’s Managerial Future After Season

Tuesday was a surprisingly big day on the managerial front. Andy Green and Chad Tracy had their respective interim tags removed by the Mets and Red Sox, with both signing three-year contracts. The only remaining interim manager, Philadelphia’s Don Mattingly, won’t know his long-term fate until season’s end.

“[We] have felt it is better to wait until our season is complete,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer when asked about the manager role beyond 2026. He added “there has not been” any additional discussion about Mattingly’s future in light of the other extensions.

That’s not a huge surprise, as the Phillies announced in April that Mattingly was only locked into the job through the end of the season. He’s on a two-year contract with the organization that he signed over the winter to serve as Rob Thomson’s bench coach. Thomson was fired after they limped to a 9-19 start.

Mattingly, whose son Preston is Philadelphia’s general manager, has overseen a turnaround that’ll very likely result in another trip to October. The Phillies have gone 78-51 since Don Mattingly was hired, bringing them to 87-70 on the year. They’re currently the #6 seed in the National League but could claim any of the Wild Card spots. Philadelphia is 4.5 games up on the Diamondbacks and have a magic number of two to clinch their fifth straight playoff appearance.

The Phillies couldn’t have expected much more from Mattingly’s club in the regular season, but their focus is on October. They’re in as much of a win-now mindset as any team in the league, running a competitive balance tax payroll north of $322MM with one of the game’s oldest rosters.

They’ve been one of the best regular season teams five years running, but their playoff performances have gone in the wrong direction. Philadelphia went from a National League pennant in 2022 to an NLCS loss in ’23 and losses in the Division Series in each of the last two years. They’ll need to play a three-game Wild Card Series this year. While the Phillies will make their permanent managerial decision on more than the results of a three- or five-game series, it’s fair to assume Mattingly’s chance of keeping the job rises if they make a deep run.

That coincides with questions about Alex Cora’s future. Dombrowski has already acknowledged he was prepared to offer the job to Cora after the longtime Red Sox’ skipper was fired. Cora, whose contract with Boston reportedly pays him $7.25MM annually through 2027, declined the offer to spend the ’26 season with his family. The Phillies will presumably reach back out to Cora this offseason to gauge his interest in returning to the dugout. Mattingly said around the All-Star Break that he’d be happy to stay in the role for 2027 if Dombrowski wants to keep him around (link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com).