Don Mattingly Keeps His Job as Manager

We'd been expecting this more and more, and now it's official: Don Mattingly has been named the Phillies' full-time manager.

Several sources had reported that Dave Dombrowski (president) and Preston Mattingly (general manager and Don's son) were going to officially name him this week.

It finally happened this morning.

Mattingly, who had one more year left on his contract as bench coach, has signed a two-year deal as manager for the 2027 and 2028 seasons.

It's worth noting that he was named interim manager one month into the 2026 season. The Phillies had fired Rob Thomson.

Alex Cora was the Phillies' top choice, but he turned them down. Don Mattingly therefore took over as interim manager.

He didn't do too badly during the season, but the Phillies lost their way toward the end of the campaign. And in the playoffs, it was tough.

But since Cora recently turned down the Phillies again, Mattingly will ultimately keep his job, and his “interim” title will be removed ahead of the 2027 season.

We know he wanted to keep his job.

So Cora is, once again, changing the game. His desire to take a longer break to spend time with his family is throwing a wrench in the Phillies' plans.

Except that at the same time… The (officially) open positions were in Philly and Seattle. He might not want to go to either of those markets. #WindowClosing

Ah, no surprise here: the Astros are also changing managers. After seeing Joe Espada granted permission to go for an interview in Seattle, who's surprised?

The Astros have parted ways with manager Joe Espada

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) October 14, 2026

I don't see Alex Cora returning to the scene of the crime in Houston, though. So even if the position is open, it doesn't change anything for me.

The Angels might have an opening… but Cora is worth more than that. And besides, who else is going to get a new manager at this point?

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