The manager is safe.
After a heartbreaking finish to an otherwise solid season in Philadelphia, Phillies manager Rob Thomson will not be relieved of his duties, The Post’s Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman confirmed.
The Phillies went 96-66 and easily walked away with the NL East division title before things unraveled in the NLDS, where they fell to the Dodgers in four games.
The series concluded with pitcher Orion Kerkering throwing away a comebacker with the bases loaded and the score tied at 1-1 in the 11th inning, giving the Dodgers an error-fueled 2-1 walk-off win.
There had been mumblings about mismanagement fueling the Phillies’ early exit, with Thomson calling for a controversial Bryson Stott bunt in the ninth inning of Game 2 while trailing by one run with a runner on second base with zero outs.
Castellanos would be tagged out trying to get to third base on the bunt, and the Phillies ultimately fell, 4-3, to fall into a 2-0 series hole.
“Just left on left. Trying to tie the score,” Thomson said postgame. “I liked where our bullpen was at based on, as compared to theirs. We play for the tie at home.”
Some further ripped Thomson since he pinch ran for Harrison Bader later in the ninth, after failing to do so for Castellanos.
The Phillies’ NBC postgame crew got into a shouting match over that call.
“What Rob Thomson did was not a pinch run,” Michael Barkann said on the postgame show. “He bunted with Stott when he could have pinch run.”
There is also some growing frustration in the City of Brotherly Love since the Phillies are now 2-8 in their last 10 playoff games and have lost their last three series dating to the 2023 postseason.
They blew a 3-2 NLCS lead to the Diamondbacks in 2023 even with Games 6 and 7 at home, fell to the Mets in the NLDS as the higher seed last year and then lost again as the higher seed this year.
Thomson has one year left on his contract as the team looks to keep the team together with some players entering free agency.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski will have his work cut out for him as pending free agents Kyle Schwarber, Ranger Suárez and J.T. Realmuto could depart this winter.