Philadelphia removed the interim tag from the 65-year-old, who went 79-55 after taking over a 9-19 team in April. The decision comes after Cora turned the club down for a second time and with a possible lockout looming.
Don Mattingly will be back in the Phillies’ dugout next season.
The club announced Wednesday that it has signed Mattingly, who finished 2026 as interim manager, to a two-year contract that runs through 2028. The move came after Alex Cora turned down the job for a second time.
Cora passes again
Cora had already declined the Phillies once before the team fired Rob Thomson in late April amid a dismal start and promoted Mattingly. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who won the 2018 World Series with Cora in Boston, tried again to lure him after the Red Sox let him go last April, but Cora chose not to return to a dugout so soon, largely for family reasons, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported.
The decision is something of a surprise. After the Phillies were swept out of the wild-card round by the Braves, a report suggested Mattingly would be eased out of the job and offered an advisory role instead.
With a lockout widely expected this offseason, the club opted for continuity rather than bringing in a new manager who might be cut off from players during a labor standoff.
A turnaround, then another early exit
Mattingly, 65, took over a 9-19 team and went 79-55 the rest of the way. He told the Associated Press in July that he wanted to stay on if the club gave him the chance. His son, Preston Mattingly, is the Phillies’ general manager.
Since reaching the 2022 World Series, Philadelphia has lost in the NLCS, the NLDS twice and now the wild-card round. Mattingly will now be asked to squeeze more out of an aging core whose lineup leans heavily on Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber.
Reporting in this story is based on the team’s announcement and on coverage by the New York Post. The photographs are stock file images, not photographs of the team described.
