For the second time during this championship window, the Philadelphia Phillies parted ways with one of their managers mid-season. The manager who took over the club in 2022, Rob Thomson, was fired back in April. Don Mattingly was then hired as the interim manager for the remainder of the 2026 season. Thomson grew on Phillies fans with his sustained capability of winning, but the feeling doesn't seem quite as strong when it comes to Mattingly. Alex Cora's name has been thrown around, and it's appearing more likely that there will be a new manager in 2027.
According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Cora's most likely destination next year will be Philadelphia. The Phillies could have the opportunity to bring in a proven winner in Cora, while Mattingly is just trying to get the current Phillies club into the postseason.
Alex Cora and Phillies connection heats up as Phillies tread water towards October
Things haven't gone as well as Phillies fans hoped this season. In previous years, they've been able to reach their goal of reaching the postseason with some ease and won back-to-back NL East crowns. This season has felt more like a roller coaster with major flaws and inconsistencies from both the players and managerial decisions from Mattingly.
There's legitimate smoke surrounding Cora's name around the Phillies. Cora was fired just days before Thomson, which led to an apparent meeting between Cora and Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Dombrowski reached out to Cora to see if he was willing to fill the Phillies manager job immediately. Cora declined the job to take some personal time with his family, but the seed had been firmly planted.
The Phillies found themselves desperate to get things on the right track, and who better to turn to than the three-time World Series manager from Boston? Dombrowski knows Cora well from his time in Boston, and he would be a perfect fit in Philadelphia with a veteran voice and his known ability tobuild rapport with his players.
To be fair to Mattingly, he accepted the bench job thinking he would stay in the background for the whole season and no longer. Now he's left having to answer to a Phillies team teetering on a playoff spot with only weeks before the postseason starts. Mattingly pulled the Phillies out of an early 9-19 hole, but they are now 18-20 Since July 1. It's going to take a lot for Mattingly to recreate the trust Thomson had in Philadelphia, but Cora is right there for Dombrowski if he wants him once the season is over.
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