Phillies fire manager Rob Thomson with team tied for worst record in MLB

After finishing the 2025 regular season with 96 wins and one of the best run differentials in baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies faced high expectations entering 2026. But the team faceplanted to open the year, going 9-19 in their first 28 games, tied with the New York Mets for the worst record in baseball.

With the team scuffling, the front office decided to shake things up, firing manager Rob Thomson on Tuesday.

With Thomson out, the team will turn to veteran manager Don Mattingly as an interim option. Mattingly excelled as a player with the New York Yankees and has 12 seasons of managerial experience in MLB. He led the Dodgers to a .551 winning percentage across seasons from 2011 to 2015 before joining the Miami Marlins in 2016, with whom he posted a .430 winning percentage in seven seasons.

Mattingly parted ways with the Marlins after the 2022 season and spent a few years as a bench coach with the Toronto Blue Jays before joining the Phillies in the same role in January.

Mattingly’s interim promotion marks the first time in MLB history that a father and son have served as a team’s manager and general manager. Don Mattingly’s son, Preston, is the Phillies’ general manager, working under president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

The Phillies’ decision Tuesday ends a mostly promising run for Thomson in Philadelphia. Over his four-and-a-half seasons on the job, he led the team to a .568 winning percentage and four postseason berths. That includes a World Series appearance in his first year on the job, when the Phillies fell to the Houston Astros in six games. The team made another deep playoff run in 2023, losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS.

The past two seasons the Phillies have failed to advance past their first postseason series, falling to the New York Mets in 2024 and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2025, both in the NLDS.

Those early exits, combined with the team’s slow start in 2026, likely resulted in Thomson’s firing. Despite carrying the largest payroll in team history, the Phillies limped out of the gate, with a 10-game losing streak in the season’s first month.

Thomson is not the first MLB manager to be fired this season. He joins Alex Cora, whom the Boston Red Sox surprisingly let go after the team got off to a 10-17 start to open the season. Cora was reportedly offered the Phillies’ interim role before the team elevated Mattingly, but Cora declined the offer, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

Mattingly will now be tasked with getting the Phillies back on track after a miserable start. Given the immense talent on the roster, expectations will remain sky-high for the team, which won the National League East last season.

Austin Reaves ‘optimistic’ on return to Lakers for Game 5 vs. Rockets

Austin Reaves is “optimistic” that he’ll be able to return to the Los Angeles Lakers’ lineup for Game 5 of their first-round series in the 2026 NBA playoffs against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

The 27-year-old Reaves was one of L.A.’s leading offensive lights during the regular season, averaging a career-high 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game on 49/36/87 shooting splits — one of just 10 players in the NBA this season to average 20 and 5 on .600 true shooting. He missed the Lakers’ final five regular-season games, and has missed the first four games of their opening-round matchup with Houston, after suffering a Grade 2 oblique strain during an April 2 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Reaves resumed on-court work last week, and was listed as questionable ahead of both Game 3 and Game 4 before being ruled out of both. He’s advanced from 1-on-1 work to larger group scrimmages “with no setbacks,” according to Charania — a progression that has sparked hope that he’ll be able to take the floor once again in Game 5.

After missing the Lakers’ last nine games, Austin Reaves is reportedly nearing his return. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
Cooper Neill via Getty Images

A Wednesday night comeback would mean that Reaves got back in the fold one day shy of four weeks after his injury — beating the optimistic outlook on an expected four-to-six-week recovery window that the Lakers offered when he first went down.

“I think it’s fair to consider everything. Austin and I had a conversation [the day before Game 4] for a long time, and I think ultimately the athlete has to feel confidence,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick told reporters. “And that’s always the final hurdle coming back from an injury, is the psychological component of it.”

If Reaves feels mentally and physically ready to come back, his return would provide a boost to a Lakers offense that has scored just 110.1 points per 100 possessions through four games — 11th of the 16 teams in the postseason field, and a rate that would’ve ranked 29th in the league during the regular season.

The Lakers have been able to overcome their offensive shortcomings in the absence of both Reaves and leading scorer/MVP candidate Luka Dončić by relying on a steady diet of LeBron James post-ups, knockdown shooting from the trio of Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura, and an excellent defensive game plan from Redick that has repeatedly flustered the Rockets — who’ve been without their top offensive star, Kevin Durant, in three of the four games in this series — into mistakes and stagnation. That combination has a Lakers team that entered the series as the underdog up 3-1 and on the verge of advancing; getting Reaves back would certainly profile as a boon to that effort.

Game 5 tips off at 10 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Guardians reportedly set to call up 2024 No. 1 pick Travis Bazzana

Travis Bazzana is finally set to make his major-league debut. 

The Cleveland Guardians plan to call up Bazzana on Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The 2024 No. 1 pick will take over at second base for the Guardians, starting Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays. 

Bazzana was selected with the top pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, which marked the Guardians’ only No. 1 selection in franchise history after they entered the lottery with just a 2% chance of earning the top pick. Bazzana was the first second baseman to be selected first in the MLB Draft and just the eighth to go in the top 10.

Bazzana has shined at the Triple-A level so far this season. The 23-year-old holds a .287 batting average with 10 RBI and two home runs in 24 outings with the Guardians’ affiliate in Columbus. Bazzana missed two months last summer due to an oblique strain, which undoubtedly delayed his move up to the Guardians.

To make room for Bazzana, the team intends to option Juan Brito.

The Guardians enter Tuesday’s contest having lost four of their past five games, including a 3-2 loss to the Rays on Monday. The Rays rallied from a two-run deficit late, thanks to a solo homer from Jonathan Aranda and an RBI single from Ryan Vilade in the eighth inning.

The Guardians now sit at 15-15 on the season and are only a half-game behind the Tigers for first in the AL Central. 

NBA playoffs 2026: Where to watch, start date, TV schedule and more

The Oklahoma City Thunder lead the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs, here’s how to catch that series and every other NBA playoff game this week. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Christian Petersen via Getty Images

The NBA playoffs are in full-swing and the first round will be wrapping up by this weekend. Conference semifinals are then scheduled to begin on May 4. You can catch the tournament across Prime Video, ABC, NBC/Peacock, and ESPN. Here’s what you need to know so you won’t miss a single game of the 2026 NBA playoffs. 

Dates: April 14 – June, 2026

TV channel: NBC, ESPN, ABC

Streaming: Peacock, Prime Video, ESPN Unlimited, DirecTV and more

The NBA playoffs officially got under way on April 18. The Eastern Conference finals are scheduled to begin May 19, and the Western Conference finals are scheduled for May 20. The NBA finals are set to begin on June 3, 2026.

NBA playoff games will be broadcast across Prime Video, NBC, ABC, and ESPN. 

NBA playoff games that air on NBC will also stream on Peacock. Games on ABC and ESPN are also streaming on ESPN Unlimited. You can find all these channels on streaming platforms like DirecTV and YouTube TV. 

All times Eastern

April 27

  • Detroit Pistons vs. Orlando Magic, 8 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)

  • OKC Thunder vs. Phoenix Suns, 9:30 p.m. (Peacock, NBC Sports)

  • Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Denver Nuggets, 10:30 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)

April 28

  • Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

  • Atlanta Hawks vs. New York Knicks, 8 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)

  • Portland Trail Blazers vs. San Antonio Spurs, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

April 29

  • Detroit Pistons vs. Orlando Magic, 7 p.m. (Prime Video)

  • Toronto Raptors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)

  • OKC Thunder vs. Phoenix Suns, 9:30 p.m. (Prime Video)

  • Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers, 10 p.m. (ESPN)

  • May 4: Conference Semifinals begin (can move up to May 2 or 3)

  • May 19: Eastern Conference Finals begin on ESPN/ABC (can move up to May 17)

  • May 20: Western Conference Finals begin on NBC/Peacock (can move up to May 18)

  • June 3: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 1 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET

  • June 5: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 2 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET

  • June 8: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 3 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET

  • June 10: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 4 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET

  • June 13: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 5 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET (if necessary)

  • June 16: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 6 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET (if necessary)

  • June 19: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 7 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET (if necessary)

Cooper Flagg on his welcome to league moment: Victor Wembanyama dunking from everywhere and hitting step-back threes

Fullcourtpass: Cooper Flagg says playing against Victor Wembanyama in his first ever NBA game was his welcome to the league moment “He was dunking from everywhere on the court and hitting step-back threes”

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“The best thing is to try to get the ball out of his …

Duane Rankin: Asked Jordan Ott why he hasn’t given rookie Rasheer Fleming a chance to guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander considering he has size, length, athleticism. “All things are on the table. Game 1, we liked what we saw. Game 2, he got free a little bit and last game, we tried to put our center (Oso Ighodaro) on him. That’s as much size a we have. Every option is in there. Kind of gone through it all in our heads and then when it unfolds, try the best we can.” Gilgeous Alexander scored game-high 42 points in Game 3 after going for 37 in Game 2. Ott added Suns are looking to get the ball out of Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands. “The best thing is to try to get the ball out of his hands. No matter how much size we have, it’d be nice if he doesn’t touch it. That’s what we’re going to try a little bit tonight. Again, he’s one of the best at just getting to tight spaces and shooting over you. They’ve moved him obviously from the middle of the floor to kind of the side. At this point, everything is on the table.” #Suns #ThunderUp

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This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: “The best thing is to try to get the ball out of his …