My Thoughts About the Firing of Rob Thomson

After a horrendous 9-19 start to the season, the Philadelphia Phillies have fired manager Rob Thomson. My question is why didn't they let him go two seasons ago? Thomson, 62, served as the Phillies manager since 2018, but now, after nine seasons as skipper, the era has finally come to an end. Alex Cora, who was recently let go by the Boston Red Sox, was offered the manager position from the Phillies, but he declined. As of this writing, the Phillies are tied with the New York Mets for last place in the National League East. The current division leader is the Atlanta Braves with an impressive record of 21-9. Three months ago, I wrote a story about FanGraphs, and we compared our own Wild Card picks, which I'll post the link down below. While I didn't have the Phillies securing a Wild Card spot or making the playoffs this year, FanGraphs had them and the Mets at a 47% chance of clinching a spot to the Postseason. As for the Braves, according to FanGraphs, had a 40% chance. So far, so good for the current NL East division leaders.

Regarding the Rob Thomson situation, he had to be let go at some point and the Phillies have held on to him two seasons too long. Don Mattingly will act as the interim manager for the remainder of the season. With baseball possibly not happening in 2027 due to a looming lockout, no one knows who will become the next Philles manager. I felt like Rob Thomson was too laid back and delusional at times. The Phillies were always defending him whenever the team wasn't performing well. I'm glad that they finally woke up and did the right thing by relieving Thomson of his duties. As I've stated in my previous stories about the Phillies, they're not a championship-caliber team and I still stand by that. They may have some of the best players, but they've been struggling as a whole. They're a "swing for the fences" type of team, the same thing they've been doing for the last few seasons. Plus, they lack discipline at the plate. Their window of winning a World Series title has closed. They had two chances of winning it all but failed. I believe that their Game 7 loss of the 2023 NLCS to a young Arizona Diamondbacks team really broke them. The Diamondbacks humbled the Phillies, because the Phillies spent all that time being cocky and thinking that they would make it to the World Series again. However, the Diamondbacks had other ideas. Unless the Phillies somehow make a miraculous second-half surge, they'll always be a mediocre team. Instead, they need to take some lessons from the 2008 team, which they won it all. Nearly 20 years without a World Series title is embarrassing. The current group of players haven't impressed me so far, even though there are three players who have won World Series titles with different teams: Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Adolis García.

The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies had some of the best players that I enjoyed the most, with the likes of Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Jimmy Rollins. In one of my stories last year, I placed them as one of my favorite World Series games of the last 25 years. I'll have the full story to the rest of my picks in the link down below. These group of players and their positive team chemistry is one of the reasons why they won the World Series. On the other hand, the 2026 Philadelphia Phillies should learn a thing or two from the 2008 team, which they also had a wonderful manager named Charlie Manuel.

The current team isn't getting any younger, so the players need to step up their game and impress me. They need to do remarkable things to make me believe in them again. Them going for home runs all the time, while they're nice to see, isn't the best approach. Playing small ball isn't bad. Hitting RBI singles or doubles aren't bad either. The next several months will be challenging times for the defending National League East champions. Only time will tell if something good will come from adjusting without the now fired Rob Thomson and Don Mattingly at the helm.

https://vocal.media/unbalanced/compare-and-contrast-2026-mlb-wild-card-predictions

https://vocal.media/unbalanced/best-world-series-games-in-the-last-25-years