The Philadelphia Phillies have some tough decisions to make in the not-so-distant future.
Current manager Rob Thomson led Philadelphia to the 2022 World Series after taking over for the fired Joe Girardi following a 22-29 start to that season's campaign.
The Phillies lost the World Series in six games and have been steadily falling backward in their playoff performances since watching the Houston Astros celebrate the world championship to close out that season.
Last year, Philadelphia fell victim to the upstart playoff run of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Championship Series. Now, the same happened this week against the "OMG" Mets one round earlier, Thomson's managerial spot could be in great danger.
Thomson's job was threatened in mid-August when the Phillies were nearly passed up by the Milwaukee Brewers for the No. 2 seed in the NL playoffs, According to Joe DeCamara of 94 WIP radio in Philadelphia.
"They better get their act together, or Rob Thomson can lose his job. And I certainly hope that doesn't happen," DeCamara said at the time.
The Phillies ended up holding off the Brewers for the second playoff seed and watched as the Mets rallied past Milwaukee to clinch their NL Wild Card series.
Now, it is Philadelphia facing a tough decision after being eliminated by the Mets.
Thomson was signed to a two-year contract extension last winter that runs through the 2025 season. It was basically a one-year extension, as the 60-year-old's former deal was set to expire after this season.
It's a deal that implies not a lot of job security for a manager who owns a 250-185 regular season record. However, Thomson's still-shiny — yet eroding — playoff record of 20-13 through Tuesday night's loss may have him on the hottest of seats if Philadelphia fails to reverse course in its divisional series.
The majority of Thomson's playoff record is based on its 11-6 run from the wild card round to the World Series in 2022. Since then, he is just 9-7.
With the Phillies boasting the fourth-highest payroll in Major League Baseball, just north of $247 million in 2024, according to Spotrac, anything less than another championship series appearance could see Philadelphia ownership in search of a new manager to win the team its first World Series title since 2008.
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