The Philadelphia Phillies fan base has become frustrated with this current off-season and the club’s perceived lack of inaction in the trade and free agent markets. Especially over the last week as several big-name free agents have signed elsewhere, negative commentary that the Phils’ are “running it back” has been widespread across social media and sports talk radio.
Much of the frustration comes from the team’s postseason failures over the last few seasons. After the high of a magical 2022 playoff run to their first National League pennant in 13 years the Phillies have been eliminated in increasingly frustrating manner every year since.
Blowing a 3-2 lead to the Arizona Diamondbacks as favorites in the 2023 NLCS with the final two games at home. Getting beaten in the 2024 NLDS by an arch-rival New York Mets club. And this past October, literally throwing away an opportunity to upend the vaunted Los Angeles Dodgers in another NLDS.
Despite legitimate superstar talent, the Phillies keep falling short in their quest for the third World Series crown in franchise history. The fans want another parade down Broad Street. The players seem to have been a talented enough group to deliver it and yet something keeps standing in the way of them reaching that ultimate prize.
There are two strong factors that have not stood in the way. First is ownership. John Middleton has proven that he wants to win. He has been willing to ante up a payroll commitment that helps to ensure the team will have a genuine opportunity to continue doing so on a regular basis.
The second is the manager, Rob Thomson. The subject of criticism from the fan base for perceived in-game mismanagement, the man affectionately nicknamed “Topper” is instead one of the most experienced students of the game today. Fans of the team should feel lucky to have this man continuing in the Phillies dugout.
A five-game losing streak at the end of May 2022 was part of a stretch where the ball club dropped 12 of 16. The Phillies, who had playoff aspirations after signing the big bats of veterans Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber, were left floundering in third place with a 21-29 record, already 12.5 games behind the first-place Mets.
Middleton and club president Dave Dombrowski had already made up their mind; a change was going to be needed. Even a 6-5 win on June 1st at home vs San Francisco was not enough to save the job of manager Joe Girardi. The decision on his replacement was to give the job to Girardi’s bench coach, Thomson, on an interim basis. That decision would prove genius.
The Phillies continued to win, capturing his first eight straight games to get back above the .500 mark. They never looked back. From the point of his hiring until the end of the season the Phils went 65-46 to earn an NL Wildcard playoff berth.
The club’s first postseason appearance in 11 years followed. A dramatic sweep of Saint Louis in the Wildcard Series. A rousing upset of the 101-win division rival Atlanta Braves in four games in the NLDS. All capped by Bryce Harper’s “swing of his life” home run to give the Phillies a victory in Game 5 of the NLCS vs San Diego and their first World Series trip since 2009.
In that 2022 Fall Classic, the Phils jumped to a 2-1 series lead over the Houston Astros. But Houston pitching took over from there, holding the Phillies to just two total runs in winning the final three games.
Though the fairytale finally ended just short of every team’s ultimate goal the facts could not be ignored – Thomson had made a difference. His long history of experience in the game and his calm, veteran presence in the clubhouse and dugout had proven to be exactly what the Phillies needed.
During that playoff run, Thomson was rewarded by having the “interim” tag lifted. He signed a two-year contract on October 10 to become the full-time manager. It was the culmination of a four-decade career in the professional ranks for the then 59-year-old. Since that time, Thomson’s deal has been extended multiple times, the latest just last month when he signed through the 2027 campaign.
Over his four years at the helm the Phillies have accumulated a 346-251 (.580) regular season record. That is the highest winning percentage of any full-time skipper in the history of the ball club. They are 21-17 in the postseason under Thomson and have reached the playoffs each year. The team has captured a National League pennant, appeared in the NLCS twice, and are entering the 2026 season as two-time defending NL East Division champions.
Thomson’s record speaks for itself. His background in the game before this point is just as impressive. An enshrinee to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, he is a native of Ontario who played high school ball there. In 1984, Thomson was part of the Canadian team at the 1984 Olympics. He was later selected by the Detroit Tigers out of the University of Kansas in the 1985 MLB Draft.
As a professional player, Thomson reached ‘A’ level ball, playing third base and catcher in the Tigers’ system through 1988 after which he moved into the Detroit minor league coaching ranks. “I wasn’t a good enough player. The game sort of forced me into coaching,” said Thomson. “I was lucky enough the Tigers thought enough of me as an evaluator, teacher and an organizer to offer me a coaching position.”
In 1990 he moved on to the New York Yankees organization, beginning a 28-year career there that included minor league coaching and managerial stints and ultimately as bench coach to Girardi. Thomson was serving in that role when the Yanks’ defeated the Phillies in the 2009 World Series. During this time, he got the “Topper” nickname from Joe Torre who said that Thomson, who ran Yankees spring training, was “always on top of everything.”
When Girardi was let go by New York following the 2017 season, Thomson was a candidate to replace him but lost out to Aaron Boone. Instead, Thomson was hired by the Phillies to become bench coach under their new first-time big-league manager, Gabe Kapler.
Girardi had given Kapler a ringing endorsement of Thomson: “Gabe, if you want everything done right and you want to make sure players are always prepared, hire Rob Thomson”, per Sweeney Murdi at MLB.com in June 2024. The Phillies gave Thomson the job. He was subsequently kept on when Kapler was fired following the 2019 season and stayed in the role when Girardi was hired as the Phils’ new manager. The rest is history.
Negative thinking fans look at the fact that since their 2022 World Series run, the Phillies have been eliminated in the playoffs in demoralizing fashion ever since. There is warranted criticism that the players have failed to hit in clutch postseason situations.
But the fact of the matter is that Thomson is not swinging a bat. His track record proves that he can guide a winning ball club to the playoffs consistently with the mix of talent given to him by upper management and ownership.
Despite all the winning over the last handful of seasons the Phillies have proven to be an imperfect blend of talent. Rob Thomson has proven to be the perfect man to get the most out of that talent. Only that final piece, a World Series ring and parade down Broad Street, Thomson from recognition as the best manager in Philadelphia Phillies history.
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MATT VEASEY 