The Philadelphia Phillies have fired manager Rob Thomson barely a month into the season. According to sources, bench coach Don Mattingly will serves as the team's interim manager through the end of the 2026 season. Mattingly, of course, has previous experience as a manager with both the Los Angeles Dodgers (2011-2015) and the Miami Marlins (2016-2022).
The Philadelphia Phillies fired manager Rob Thomson, sources told ESPN. Don Mattingly will take over as interim manager. First on the news was @MattGelb.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 28, 2026
This is a move that, frankly, isn't overly surprising given how poorly the Phillies have performed through the first several weeks of the season. It also comes on the heels of a similar move the Boston Red Sox made over the weekend after they dismissed Alex Cora and five members of his coaching staff.
Cora was a World Series-winning manager, but Boston's 10-17 start triggered chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to make a move. The Red Sox are now being led by the organization's former Triple-A manager Chad Tracy.
Phillies dismiss Rob Thomson on the heels of Red Sox firing Alex Cora
Both the Phillies and Red Sox are off to sub-par starts to open the 2026 campaign. Moving on from the manager is oftentimes a simple solution to a bigger problem, but it can have a desired affect on the players in the clubhouse. There's little doubt that's what president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is hoping for.
The Phillies, much like the Red Sox, had (and still have) World Series aspirations. This is not a team that should be treading water in the National League East, but at the moment, Philadelphia is sitting at 9-19 and are 10 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves.
The Phillies' lineup has been off to a putrid start this season, ranking 29th in OPS (.656) despite having some of the biggest bats in the game on the roster. Philly has just 30 round trippers on the year —good for 17th in the league — after ranking ninth in 2025.
The Phillies' pitching staff has been equally as bad, ranking 28th in team ERA (5.13). Philadelphia hurlers are racking up the K's (257), but opposing teams are piling up the hits. The Phillies pitching staff have seen the opposition to post a .286 batting average against having allowed a league-leading 286 base knocks on the season.
Something had to change, and obviously Dombrowski feels as though Thomson was the problem. That may or not have been true, but his dismissal will at least buy the Phillies' front office a little more time to get things back on track.
Add us as a preferred source on Google