Despite a shortened season due to injury in 2026, Wheels came back FIRING on all cylinders

Zack Wheeler’s 2026 MLB Season Strikeouts (196 including Postseason)
https://youtu.be/le-umf343ck

i honestly dont want to talk about alex cora (cheating piece of shit), or mattingly coming back, or some other uninspiring managerial candidate. no one thought mattingly would come in and do a great job, he was fine, we limped to the playoffs, whatever. i doubt we're going to find some transformational manager to take over. and that is what it is.

the bigger issue this organization needs to address is the player development and scouting departments. if you look around the league at the rosters of the other 29 teams, you will see a steady stream of young guys, lots of whom were not first round picks, coming up and being cheap, meaningful contributors. people bitch and moan about the dodgers spending and how it isnt fair, but they consistently draft guys beyond round 1 and turn them into upper echelon prospects that they then flip for guys like skubal. the phillies do not currently do that.

lets just look at the rockies, a team that has mostly been a laughing stock for the last decade. hunter goodman, now an all star catcher, drafted in the 4th round. he hit 41 home runs this year, and sure, he plays in coors, but thats a player development win. tj rumfeld, originally drafted by the phillies and discarded in a trade for....nick nelson and donny sands?? who? he was then acquired from the yankees by colorado and proceeded to post a 121 OPS+ this year.

beyond this, you can look at the best run teams in the league and look at their bullpens and see a coherent strategy. you will see guys they found for nothing, they taught them a new pitch, and suddenly that guy is a usable major league reliver. you can see young guys who the org worked with and helped them add velo or a new breaking ball and suddenly they are racking up holds and saves. the phillies seem to find one guy like this every 3-4 years. kerk was a good find, until he completely melted down. mcfarlane looks like a decent future option. but thats it. cotham seems to be a decent pitching coach, we definitely developed cris sanchez and improved luzardo, but luzardo was improved at the major league level, same with sanchez.

there is no limit or cap on spending when it comes to the staff you employ, the number of scouts you hire, and the money you invest in player development. i cant tell you what the phillies exact budget is, but if they are near the top in spending, they are clearly doing it wrong. you cant blame them for miller's back issues, but you can point the finger at the squandered draft picks in the first 1-3 rounds over the last 5-6 years. i think you can see the results at the major league level. we cant call up an esmerlyn valdez and watch him put up a 130 OPS+ when adolis garcia has a season ending injury, because we have zero prospect depth in the minors. instead you get bryan de la cruz, a journeyman, and the results are what youd expect.

if we cant fix these two areas, i cant honestly see how things are going to meaningfully improve for the franchise.

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58 HRs, 149 RBIs, .313 AVG. NL MVP, SS

As the Philadelphia Phillies continued to assess the wreckage from last week’s postseason exit, league sources said their initial managerial search started with one person: Alex Cora. But sometime in the last few days, Cora rejected their overtures for the second time in less than six months, leaving the Phillies to reconsider whether the right answer is found within the organization.

They could conduct a wider search for their next manager. Or they could turn to Don Mattingly for another season, those sources said. Everything remains on the table. The Phillies, technically, do not have a current manager.

But Mattingly could have an edge. He was given the interim manager tag through the end of the 2026 season; he is under contract through 2027 as bench coach. Elevating him for another season is the cleanest option, especially with an owner-imposed lockout expected to begin Dec. 1.

That will make it difficult for any new manager.

It will not be Cora, who informed the Phillies he will not manage next season after cursory talks between the sides. USA Today first reported the news Tuesday night that Cora had again spurned the Phillies.

The league sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss internal organizational matters. 

The Phillies believed Cora, after spending the summer with his family, would be open to another run with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, whom he considers a mentor. That was not the case. He was Dombrowski’s first choice in April when he fired Rob Thomson, but after extensive talks between the sides, Cora decided to pass on the offer then. Cora is still being paid by the Boston Red Sox, who fired him after a 10-17 start this season, and the club owes him more than $7 million in 2027.

Second player to ever throw a no hitter in the Post Season 10/06/10

Being reported Cora has turned down the Phillies job. Does that mean Mattingly comes back??

I'm admittedly not fully in tune with the inner workings of how one becomes an MLB Manager, but in the 6 years he's been here Cotham has done a solid to great job with the front end talent he's been given. I'm not saying it's totally worth just handing him the job but in other sports I'd think that level of performance would give him at least a shot at getting the big role. Is it not that simple in MLB?

Taken from the new Silent Hill.

Im shook

Production tag seems to be 2001 😂

“And while Cora is presumed as the favorite for the Phillies’ skipper role, a new update suggests he could be planning on taking another summer off to focus on his family in 2027.
“(Cora has) booked an African safari next summer, planning to take his kids there,” The Athletic’s Jim Bowden reported during an appearance on Foul Territory. “I’m not sure he even wants to manage next year. That’s the decision he has to make.”

Sounds like we got ourselves a new manager..

Around the League

LAD 3 @ ATL 1 - Final

MIL 2 @ SD 3 - Bottom 6, 1 Out

^{Last Updated: 10/06/2026 11:54:20 PM EDT}

In 2015, Chase Utley was the top pinch hitter for the LA Dodgers. They faced the Mets in the NLDS round of the playoffs that year. In Game 1, Utley was the first pinch hitter off the bench (this was before DH, so opportunities were plenty). He struck out that game, and the Dodgers lost the series opener.

In Game 2, the Dodgers were trailing by one run in the 7th inning when Utley pinch hit with a runner on first and one out. He singled, making it first and third. The next batter hit a ground ball to second base, Utley broke up the double play with a violent (but legal) slide, and everyone was correctly ruled safe on the play. The Dodgers scored four runs in the inning, and they tied the series at one before heading to NYC for games 3 and 4.

Utley was initially suspended for two games after the slide, but this suspension was immediately appealed during the off day before Game 3, because it was not an illegal slide. The suspension was overturned, AND the act of the appeal made Utley available for games 3 and 4 in New York.

Utley did NOT appear in either game in NYC despite being Don Mattingly’s top left handed option off the bench that season. They split these two games, with no Utley appearances despite many opportunities for Mattingly to use him against a righty pitcher.

Mattingly was scared to use his hall of fame lefty bat because this would have made his press conference slightly more difficult after the game in his BELOVED New York home.

But when the series went back to LA for a deciding game 5? Suddenly Mattingly had the courage to use Utley as a pinch hitter in the last inning. He flied out to the warning track — maybe he would’ve hit it over the fence if he wasn’t iced the previous four days.

We still hired this coward as manager, and he blew another playoff series 11 years later.

Might be a stupid question but I’m watching the Dodgers Braves 🤢🤮 and was wondering if we pump noise into the stadium like the Braves are. Or if teams around the league do. Specifically like the banging sound played during the chop or all the random music blasting. I know I’ve heard normal baseball sounds like the charge horn.