NEW YORK — Don Mattingly took over a Philadelphia team that was 9-19 and tied for the worst record in baseball. Seventeen days later, the Phillies are at .500 and back in the playoff picture.
For Yankees fans who grew up watching Mattingly in pinstripes, his Philadelphia run is raising a question hard to dismiss: could the former Yankees captain eventually manage in the Bronx? The Yankees have not answered that yet. Mattingly is busy making the case.
From 9-19 to .500 in 18 games
The Phillies fired Rob Thomson on April 28. A 9-19 start matched the Mets for the worst record in baseball. Thomson had delivered four straight playoff runs. Dave Dombrowski had no choice.
Dombrowski first wanted Alex Cora, freshly fired by Boston. Cora turned him down. Dombrowski called Mattingly, who had joined Philadelphia in January as bench coach. Mattingly was doing laundry when the phone rang. He assumed Dombrowski was calling to confirm Cora had accepted the job. He was wrong.
Mattingly kept his message simple. Better baseball. The Phillies beat the Giants 7-0 in his debut. Saturday they beat Pittsburgh 6-0. Cristopher Sanchez threw a complete game with a career-high 13 strikeouts, walked no one, extended his scoreless innings streak to 29 2/3 and dropped his ERA to 1.82. Bryce Harper hit a 457-foot three-run homer in the first.
The night before, they erased a 6-0 deficit to beat Pittsburgh 11-9 in 10 innings. Kyle Schwarber homered twice, raising his MLB-leading total to 20. Harper had four hits. Brandon Marsh doubled home the winner in the 10th.
Two different nights. Two completely different wins. The Phillies moved to 23-23. Mattingly has won 14 of 18 games. For context: the Yankees are 28-18 on the full season.
The numbers that back up the turnaround
Since Mattingly took over April 28, the Phillies own a .794 OPS. That figure is tied with the Yankees for the second-highest in all of baseball over that stretch. Philadelphia also leads the majors with 19 home runs since the end of April. On the mound, the staff carries a 3.40 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP under Mattingly.
The run differential still reflects the damage of April. The Phillies sit at minus-23 overall. They are 8-13 against teams at or above .500. Those numbers tell the story of how badly the season began. The numbers since Mattingly arrived tell an entirely different story.
Mattingly was asked to characterize where the team stands. He gave an honest, grounded answer.
“You know, I feel like we’re going in the right direction now,” Mattingly said. “We started off a little sideways, kind of regulated. Pitching has kind of normalizing. Our starters and bullpen has been good. We’re catching the baseball better now. The at-bats are getting better. I think it’s kind of normalizing. It would have happened no matter what, but in my profession, it’s good.”
Schwarber described what changed when Mattingly took over, pointing to trust as the central shift.
“When they make the decision to make the change, you look at Donnie and the resume, that he played at such a high level and managed some good teams,” Schwarber said. “He knows what it takes. There were no drastic changes in what we’re doing. We know the group we have. But with him at the helm and having trust in us, there’s going to be some different things we’re going to try to do. There’s a lot of trust in him, and he has trust in us.”
900 wins and a milestone that adds context
During this surge, Mattingly reached his 900th career win as a manager. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale noted the achievement when Mattingly improved to 11-3 with the Phillies. Reaching 900 managerial wins puts him in a small and distinguished group.
Mattingly managed the Dodgers from 2011-15 and the Marlins from 2016-22. He won NL Manager of the Year in 2020. Before that, he played all 14 Yankees seasons, won the 1985 AL MVP, the 1984 batting title and nine Gold Gloves. The Yankees retired No. 23 in 1997. He never won a World Series as a player or manager. His Yankees playing career ended one year before the dynasty began.
The 900 wins say this Phillies surge is not luck. It is a proven manager stabilizing a talented team.
Mattingly addressed what managing again has meant to him after years away from the dugout.
“I feel fairly comfortable,” he said. “Early on, it felt fast. Since then, it’s been pretty good. It helps when we’re winning. I’m glad to be in this seat.”
The question the Yankees now have to consider
Aaron Boone is under Yankees contract through 2027. There is no opening now. But the Yankees have not won a World Series since 2009. Boone has kept the Yankees in contention. A championship has not followed.
Mattingly offers what very few available managers can. He played every game of his career as a Yankee. He knows the weight of the Yankees job from the inside. He has 900 wins, a Manager of the Year award and has now reset a slumping roster twice.
The Yankees and the Phillies share the same .794 OPS since April 28. One has Mattingly running the dugout. The other has Boone. That comparison will only get louder.
The obstacle is real. If the Phillies keep winning, Dombrowski will have every reason to lock Mattingly up long-term before any Yankees opening exists. Mattingly is interim through this season only. A sustained run changes that fast.
The Yankees are 28-18 and second in the AL East. The man in Philadelphia, with his Yankees history and 900 wins, is the most compelling managerial story in baseball right now. Whether the Yankees ever act on it is a separate question. That it is worth asking says everything about what Mattingly has done.
What do you think? Should the Yankees consider Mattingly for managerial position?
