Run It Back, Baby!: The Lifeless Philadelphia Phillies Decide To Keep Things The Same And Name Don Mattingly The Full-Time Manager
Rob Tringali. Getty Images.The Athletic -- The Philadelphia Phillies are expected to name Don Mattingly as their full-time manager, with the decision formalized sometime this week, according to several league and team sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss moves that haven’t been announced.
Mattingly, who led the team to a 79-55 record after assuming managerial duties in late April, had his interim tag expire almost two weeks ago when the Phillies were eliminated by the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card Series. He was under contract for the 2027 season as bench coach. Hiring Mattingly as manager marks a doubling down on the Phillies’ current vision after a near-historic September collapse and another postseason gone wrong.
Holy shit this lockout can't come soon enough.
For the 2nd time in a row, Don Mattingly has gotten the Phillies manager job after Alex Cora told the team he wants absolutely nothing to do with them. The Phillies have failed twice to get their guy, so now they are going to do what they do best. Run it back, baby! Hell yeah! Can you feel the excitement in the air? If there's anything that gets this city going, it's 2nd rate coaches overstaying their welcome. Sirianni, Tocchet, Mattingly. It's a regular who's who!
Run it back. I am so violently sick of that phrase. The Philadelphia Phillies have gotten progressively worse every year since 2022, and they just want to keep running it back. That's certainly not Don Mattingly's fault. But the decision to keep him around just reinforces the organizational ineptitude which has gotten the Phillies to the point they are at today. An organization which is so embarrassingly afraid to take any risks.
It's hanging on to Bohm, Stott, and Brandon Marsh. It's re-signing Aaron Nola. It's Don Mattingly's decision to start Aaron Nola in game 3 against Atlanta. It's keeping Kevin Long employed. It even goes down to the smallest of decisions like Bryson Stott refusing to choose a different goddamn walkup song.
Run it back. Run it back. Run it back. At some point you'd think maybe they would realize that it's not happening. At some point you'd think maybe they would want to be proactive for a change, and try literally anything different. But Dave Dombrowski has a job for life so why should he care? John Middleton thought he had won Phillies fans over for life, so why should he care? It is a total miscalculation on his part, and he's going to realize how much Phillies fans are starting despise him. But clearly he hasn't gotten to that part yet.
The Phillies have become a bunch of underachieving losers. The collapse in September, and getting bounced in the Wild Card should have been the nail in the coffin. But instead, the Phillies are going to run it back again and we'll be saying the same exact thing next October. The offense will go ice cold. The pitching will let us down in the worst possible moment. There will be a few questionable managerial decisions that leave us wondering what if. And Citizens Bank Park will be a Spirit Halloween store by October 2nd.