Don Mattingly, who should have made the Hall of Fame yesterday, is close to joining the Phillies as bench coach. Phillies president Dave Dombrowski told writers here.
Report: Don Mattingly set to join Phillies as bench coach
Photo credit: © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Dec 8, 2025, 18:30 ESTUpdated: Dec 8, 2025, 18:24 EST
It looks like Don Mattingly has found a new team.
On Monday evening, Philadelphia Phillies’ president Dave Dombrowski told reporters that the former Toronto Blue Jays’ bench coach is close to joining the reigning National League East champions.
This isn’t the only notable piece of news that Mattingly has been involved with this off-season. Shortly after the Blue Jays’ defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, Mattingly departed from the team.
Moreover, Mattingly was one of a handful of players up for a Hall of Fame nomination via the Contemporary Era committee. Unfortunately, he fell six votes shy of getting in, while former Blue Jay Carlos Delgado missed by three votes. In fact, only one player, former Blue Jay Jeff Kent, was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Mattingly spent his entire 14-year career with the New York Yankees, joining the team four seasons after their last World Series, and retiring just a season before the Yankees won it all in 1996. Overall, it was a strong career for Mattingly despite the lack of a World Series ring as a player, as he slashed .307/.358/.471 with 222 home runs in 7,721 plate appearances for a 124 wRC+ and 40.7 fWAR.
That said, it does make the Blue Jays’ World Series loss that much more heartbreaking because there’s a chance that’ll be the closest he’ll come to ever getting a ring. That said, the Phillies are no slouch either, as they recently hired Preston Mattingly as their general manager, yes, Don’s son.
Mattingly brings a wealth of baseball experience to the Phillies. On top of serving as the Blue Jays’ bench coach from 2023 until the end of the 2025 season, he’s coached the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. Mattingly has also served as the Dodgers’ manager from 2010 until 2015, and manager of the Miami Marlins from 2016 until 2022.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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