Phillies Gabe Kapler rated a top-40 coach in North American sports

Believe it or not, some think Phillies manager Gabe Kapler is a better coach than Brett Brown

ESPN produced a top-50 coaches in the four major North American sports, and Phillies manager Gabe Kapler was rated as the 39th best manager/head coach in the four major North American sports leagues.

Before we break down what that means, here’s how ESPN got to this conclusion. The World Wide Leader in sports hypothetically looked at which coach in MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA they’d want to take over a new franchise, regardless of what their sport is.

ESPN had their league experts create a big board of head coaches/managers in their respective league and then had a select group of writers anonymously rank the coaches.

When the votes were tallied, Phillies manager Gabe Kapler was ranked as the 39th best coach.

Ironically, 76ers head coach Brett Brown was one spot behind Kapler. Eagles head coach Doug Pederson was ranked 15th overall and Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol fell outside of the top-50 and his final ranking wasn’t provided.

Here’s what ESPN had to say about Kapler:

"The Phillies underwent a 14-game improvement in 2018 and played meaningful baseball in September for the first time in years, but notoriously hard-to-please Philadelphia fans probably won’t quite view Kapler’s first year through that lens. The Phils were 64-49 and in first place on Aug. 7, then went 16-33 the rest of the way, which elicited some Kapler-focused grumbling."

What they say is fair, because when the Phillies were winning the public heat on Kapler was dramatically lower than it was the first week and the final month of the season. The team did have a dramatic win increase and if they had made the playoffs Kapler would be high on Manager of the Year ballots.

Philadelphia fans might not agree with Kapler being this high on the list, especially when you look at who is below him.