Don Mattingly will return to the Phillies’ dugout with a two-year contract and a clear assignment: turn a club that reached a fifth straight postseason into one that plays cleaner, runs more freely and creates offense beyond the long ball.
Two days after Philadelphia’s season closed on Oct. 1, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski sat down with Mattingly at Citizens Bank Park. Mattingly had taken over as interim manager on April 28 after Rob Thomson’s dismissal, and the Phillies posted MLB’s fourth-best record from that point forward despite uneven offense, bullpen trouble and defensive lapses.
How Mattingly got the permanent job
- On April 26, before Mattingly was installed as interim manager, Dombrowski offered the opening to Alex Cora. Cora declined.
- Mattingly took charge two days later and guided Philadelphia into October for the fifth consecutive year.
- After the season, Dombrowski again checked with Cora, who said he did not intend to manage in 2027. No formal offer was made during that later conversation.
- Dombrowski also contacted other candidates, including former Phillies Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez.
- Last Saturday, Mattingly accepted the permanent position on a two-year deal.
Dombrowski said Mattingly immediately earned strong marks for the way he handled the club. He called the veteran skipper a leading option from the outset of their postseason meeting.
Mattingly said he did not take the wider search personally. Major League Baseball requires clubs to interview at least one minority candidate for managerial and front-office openings, although Dombrowski had received permission to waive that procedure in October 2022 when Thomson’s interim label was removed before the National League Division Series against Atlanta.
“I never felt slighted,” Mattingly said. “If Dave believed somebody else was the right choice going forward, I would have been fine with it.”
He pointed to his own background as a 19th-round Yankees pick in 1979, saying he had been overlooked plenty of times before making his name as a player. Mattingly said he trusts his own approach without needing the job to feed his ego.
A new staff and a different identity
Mattingly made it clear that last season did not fully reflect the team he intends to build. Kevin Long will not return as hitting coach, and Bobby Dickerson has been dismissed as infield coach. Philadelphia has hired former Mets manager Carlos Mendoza as third-base coach and infield coach, while the search for a new hitting coach remains open.
“Last year wasn’t really my club,” Mattingly said.
His blueprint begins with the Phillies’ August surge, when they went 21-7 and ranked among baseball’s strongest teams. Mattingly saw a lineup that controlled the strike zone, laid off pitches out of the zone, took walks and did damage collectively rather than waiting for one swing to carry the night.
“That month showed what we can be,” he said. “We can control the zone, swing at strikes, take our walks and hurt teams throughout the lineup. If you ask what I want us to become, that’s it.”
More pressure, fewer mistakes
Mattingly wants spring training to establish habits in the parts of the game that can decide close contests: defense, baserunning and the routine details that can slip during a long season.
He believes Philadelphia has speed it has not fully used and said the club has sometimes played too cautiously. That could mean a more aggressive team on the bases, but also one with more ways to score when the home runs are not arriving.
Kyle Schwarber’s power remains a major weapon, yet Mattingly does not want the offense to rely on homers and RBI swings alone. He wants hitters to extend at-bats, spoil difficult pitches, force pitchers into mistakes and manufacture chances.
“In the postseason, you see teams battle,” Mattingly said. “They foul pitches off, make more opportunities for themselves and eventually break through. That’s the kind of club I’d like us to be. Whether we can get there, we’ll find out.”
