The Philadelphia Phillies have fallen to the Atlanta Braves in the opening-round Wild Card Series, ending their 2026 season. The Phillies' 6-2 loss to Atlanta in Thursday's Game 3 eliminated them from the postseason. Yes, they made it to the playoffs for a fifth straight year, but for the third straight year, they failed to win a postseason series.
The Phillies won the National League pennant in 2022, but haven't won the World Series since 2008. Beyond the disappointments of another early exit, it's a time of transition for the Phillies on some levels and likely status quo on other fronts. That adds up to an uncertain near-term future in Philly, and that merits further exploration.
Let's do that now with three key questions facing the Phillies as they prepare to begin an uncertain offseason -- uncertain beyond even the unknowns presented by the ongoing negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement and the likelihood of an owner-led lockout in early December. Lead decision-maker Dave Dombrowski parted ways with manager Rob Thomson in late April, just 28 games into the season, after a 9-19 start. The decision was in contrast to Thomson's quite successful overall body of work in Philly, if not his 2026 results.
He guided them to the pennant in 2022 after taking over for Joe Girardi 51 games into the season. Thomson also helmed the Phillies to NL East titles in 2024 and 2025 and 95 and 96 wins, respectively, in those seasons. However, the shine came off quickly this season, especially after those early playoff exits.
In replacing Thomson, Dombrowski approached Alex Cora, who had recently been let go by the Boston Red Sox, but Cora decided to take the rest of 2026 off. That led to Don Mattingly, an experienced manager who'd been Thomson's bench coach, serving as interim manager. The Phillies surged under Mattingly, as they went 79-55 after he took over.
That's a 96-win season scaled to 162 games. The Phillies stumbled badly in the final days of the regular season, but managed to fend off the Arizona Diamondbacks on the final day and secure that fifth straight postseason berth. Mattingly has maintained his interim status all the while, even as other interim managers (the Mets' Andy Green and the Red Sox's Chad Tracy) were handed permanent gigs at the tail end of the season and even though he's expressed interest in the permanent post.
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