Phillies Had Historically Strong Start Under Don Mattingly

Don Mattingly has been part of history to start his tenure as Philadelphia Phillies manager.

May 6, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly (8) walks off the field after making a pitching change against the Athletics during the eighth inning at Citizens Bank Park. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies had an incredibly difficult decision to make when it came to the future of manager Rob Thomson.

Well-liked and highly respected, firing him was no small task. But, something had to be done to shake up the team, and moving on from the manager was deemed to be the right path moving forward.

After 28 games and a 9-19 record, Thomson was fired. Taking over on an interim basis was Don Mattingly, who knows a thing or two about helping a struggling team turn things around. With the Los Angeles Dodgers, he overcame early deficits in the standings to win the National League West.

It will take a lot of work for that to repeat itself with the Phillies, but the team is certainly happy about how things are going out of the gate. Despite a 12-1 loss to the Athletics to finish that series, Philadelphia is 8-2 since making the managerial change.

Phillies have made history under Don Mattingly

May 1, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly (8) walks back to the mound after a pitching change against the Miami Marlins during the eighth inning at loanDepot Park. | Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

As shared by Jayson Stark of The Athletic (subscription required), that is some history being made by the Phillies. Firing a manager doesn’t always jump-start a team, but for whatever reason, the last two times it has occurred in Philadelphia, the team has responded in a big way.

When Thomson took over for Joe Girardi in 2022, the team responded by winning its first eight games. They climbed back into the standings by winning 14 out of their first 16 games after replacing Girardi.

In the first eight games under Mattingly, the team went 7-1, with the only loss coming against the Miami Marlins.

The 15-1 combined record in the first eight games following each of the last two managerial changes is the best in MLB history. As Stark shared, the Cleveland Indians, in 1977 under Jeff Torborg and 1979 under Dave Garcia, went 15-1 as well. In 1958, Bill Norman was 7-1 with the Detroit Tigers and Jimmy Dykes matched that 7-1 start in 1959.

Class is in session pic.twitter.com/EFeHolQO87

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 6, 2026

Another oddity in that history is that each of the three managers who got off to scorching hot starts had their replacements, who helped complete the history. Thomson, Torborg and Norman all relieved a manager, performed well out of the gate, and had their replacement find just as much success.

The Phillies are certainly hoping that history can continue repeating itself. Thomson helped lead the team to the World Series the year he took over for Girardi.

It would be great to see Mattingly manufacture a similar turnaround for the 2026 version of the team.