Rob Thomson apparently will not be scapegoated for the Philadelphia Phillies’ latest playoff disappointment.
The Phillies manager Thomson is safe for the 2026 season, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported on Monday. Though their current season only ended less than a week ago, the team has evidently made an early decision to keep Thomson around.
Thomson, 62, took over for the Phillies in 2022 and proceeded to lead the team to the World Series that year. But he has gotten further and further from winning it all since then, going down in the NLCS in 2023 and then turning in back-to-back NLDS losses with Philadelphia in 2024 and 2025 (though the Phillies did also win NL East division titles in both of those years).
This year, the Phillies lost in four NLDS games to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Thomson was sharply questioned over his decisions at key moments during the series. In particular, Thomson made controversial calls that ended up backfiring on him in both the Game 2 loss as well in the decisive Game 4 loss.
Still, there were plenty of factors going against Philadelphia that had nothing to do with Thomson’s management. NL Cy Young candidate Zack Wheeler was lost for the season in mid-August due to a blood clotting issue, and high-priced bats such as Trea Turner (.235 batting average this postseason), Bryce Harper (.200), and Kyle Schwarber (.188) fell asleep at the worst possible time for the Phillies.
Thomson is only under contract for one more season, so it is entirely possible that he enters 2026 as a lame duck. But the Phillies have apparently decided to see what they can do with Thomson for another year and will now enter a crucial winter (featuring key free agents like Schwarber, JT Realmuto, and Ranger Suarez) with Thomson’s status no longer in question.
