The Philadelphia Phillies finished the 2025 season with 96 wins, second-most in baseball and the club’s highest total since 2011. They won the National League East Division for the second straight year.
But when it came to the postseason, the Phillies suffered one of the most crushing defeats in playoff history â on a play that many never have happened if not for a decision by manager Rob Thomson two batters earlier in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game Four of their series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Thomson also came under criticism for a decision to bunt while his team trailed by one run in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game Two. The move backfired and the Dodgers won that game as well, 4-3.
Thomson Contract Extended Through 2026
On Monday, five days after a mental mistake compounded by a fielding error on the part of 24-year-old relief pitcher Orion Kerkering ended the Phillies’ season, the Phillies have decided to retain Thomson as manager for at least one more season, according to a report by The Athletic.
“The club will keep Thomson under contract through 2026 to guide the team toward another postseason. Coaching staff changes are still possible,” wrote reporters Charlotte Varnes and Matt Gelb.
Whether the club has offered Thomson a contract that extends beyond next season remains unclear. After the 2024 season, when the Phillies were bounced from the playoffs at the division series stage by the New York Mets, the Phillies extended Thomson’s contract through the end of 2025, according to the Athletic report.
When he was promoted to replace fired manager Joe Girardi on June 3, 2022, Thomson became the first Canadian manager of a major league team since 1934, when George Gibson managed his last of six seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Made Playoffs All Four Years
The 62-year-old Thomson took the Phillies to the World Series as a Wild Card team in his first year at the helm, though they ended up losing to the Houston Astros. In his second season â his first full campaign â Thomson got the Wild Card Phillies to the NL Championship Series where they came up short in seven games to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
In addition to managing Philadelphia to the postseason in all four of his years there, Thomson has guided the team to a 346-251 regular season record.
As a result of the Phillies getting to the World Series in 2022, Thomson managed the National League in the 2023 All-Star Game, becoming the first Canadian to manage either side in baseball’s “Midsummer Classic.”
Though he never played in the Major Leagues, Thomson was member of the 1984 Canadian Olympic baseball team.
Thomson was seen comforting Kerkering after the young pitcher’s fateful misplay last Thursday, booting a soft ground ball back the mound and then throwing home with the bases loaded rather than taking a much easier inning-ending out at first base.
But two batters earlier, Thomson chose to remove veteran Jesus Luzardo who had allowed two singles but also recorded two outs in the 11th inning of the 1-1 game. After the game, Thomson explained that Luzardo “had 30 pitches on him with three days rest. I didnât want to push him too much further.”
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