ATLANTA – Don Mattingly said this summer that he hoped to be back as Phillies manager in 2027.
It’s unclear if he will be, although it seems less likely following the Phillies’ season-ending 6-2 loss to the Braves in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series on Thursday night at Truist Park.
“It's not the time to talk about anything like that,” Mattingly said after the game. “I'm not concerned about myself in this situation. I want the Phillies to do what they need to do to set themselves up for success. Yeah, I'm not really -- it's like, my stuff doesn't really matter.”
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski first offered the interim manager job to Alex Cora on April 26, nearly 48 hours before Dombrowski dismissed manager Rob Thomson following a 9-19 start. Dombrowski and Cora won a World Series together with the 2018 Red Sox. They remain close.
In fact, Cora called Dombrowski just hours after the Red Sox fired him on April 25. Dombrowski offered Cora the Phillies’ job the following morning. He declined.
“I think Alex Cora is one of the finest managers in the game of baseball,” Dombrowski said on April 28, when he announced Mattingly as interim manager. “I've been fortunate enough to work with Hall of Fame managers like Tony La Russa and Jim Leyland. Have been very fortunate in my career. I think if Alex Cora decides to manage, he has a chance to be in that same category.”
So, as long as Cora is available and Dombrowski hasn’t announced he will remove Mattingly’s interim tag, it will remain the industry’s expectation that Dombrowski will try to bring Cora aboard.
Mattingly said he has had no conversations with Dombrowski about his future as the Phillies’ manager.
“Haven’t worried about it,” he said. “Just trying to win games, honestly, and put us in the best spot to win games and move forward from there.”
The Phillies had the fourth-best record in baseball under Mattingly from the time he replaced Thomson. He won with an offense that ranked 19th in runs (713) and a bullpen that ranked 21st in ERA (4.43). Following a rough September, the Phillies clinched the third NL Wild Card spot on the final day of the regular season.
Mattingly is likely to receive NL Manager of the Year votes.
Bryce Harper said he didn’t want to talk about Mattingly’s future with the organization -- “I don’t want to answer that question,” he said -- but others did.
“We love Don,” Aaron Nola said.
“I felt like he did a great job for us when we were in that tough spot,” Kyle Schwarber said, “and the way that he was able to get us to turn that page from a really hard time where you lose a guy -- you lost our manager who brought us to a lot of important games -- and I felt like his demeanor was great for us.”
“Donnie was great,” J.T. Realmuto said.
So, does he deserve to return?
“Are you serious with that question?” Realmuto said. “Of course. I mean, it's not for me to decide, obviously, but yeah, we love Donnie. We played well for him. He's a great manager.”
Whatever happens, Mattingly said he hopes to remain involved in baseball next year. He signed a two-year contract to be the Phillies' bench coach before this season.
"I love the game,” he said. “Again, it's not the time to talk about it. I'm comfortable with whatever they want to do. Again, I want the best for the Phillies. I loved being in Philly this year. I actually like playing in that environment. I like the environment. It's a rough environment, but it's good.
“Again, I think you let the organization evaluate, talk about what they think moving forward, what they should do, and that dictates a lot of different things.”