Top 10 moments from Rob Thomson’s first year leading the Phillies

It wasn’t clear at the time how much the firing of Joe Girardi and the hiring of Rob Thomson on June 3, 2022 would impact the Phillies’ fate. As it turns out, the move impacted it a lot. Thomson led the Phillies to a 65-46 record, their first postseason berth since 2011 and their first World Series appearance since 2009.

Beyond that, Thomson changed the culture of the team. Players felt more comfortable to be themselves. Rookies didn’t worry about getting regular playing time. There was less tension in the clubhouse under Thomson’s leadership.

Here are memorable moments from his first 12 months at the helm.

This game ended up being a precursor for Thomson’s success to come. On June 3, just hours after Girardi was fired and Thomson took over, the Phillies gave the Angels an offensive shellacking, defeating them, 10-0. Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper each homered twice, and Bryson Stott hit a three-run homer. Zach Eflin gave them eight shutout innings. It was a statement win.

» READ MORE: Revisiting the only other time Rob Thomson was a manager — with the 1995 Oneonta Yankees

The fun didn’t stop there. From June 1 on, the Phillies won nine straight games, eight under Thomson’s leadership. That included a come-from-behind win on June 7 when Alec Bohm and Matt Vierling hit back-to-back home runs off the Brewers’ Josh Hader (thereby earning the nickname “Phillies Day Care” — more on that in a moment). It was the Phillies’ longest winning streak since a nine-game streak in 2011.

Thomson quickly made it clear that he was going to run his bullpen differently than Girardi. Instead of designating a closer, he chose to swap out relievers in certain spots based on matchups. It worked. By the end of the season, the Phillies’ bullpen posted a 4.27 ERA over 531⅔ innings. That was an upgrade from their 4.60 bullpen ERA in 2021, and 5.20 in 2020.

After Bohm and Vierling had their back-to-back home runs off Hader, who hadn’t given up a run in almost a year, the Phillies’ younger players were given a nickname: the Phillies Day Care. Former Phillies outfielder Mickey Moniak said it was Bryce Harper who came up with it, but regardless of its origin, the moniker stuck. The nickname was emblematic of the culture under Thomson in which younger players thrived. Under Girardi, they felt pressure to perform, at the risk of getting benched. That went away under Thomson.

» READ MORE: The Phillies’ Rob Thomson is ‘special.’ Just ask Derek Jeter.

This list is mostly in chronological order, but this was a big moment and is deserving to make the top 10. Just before the Phillies played the NL Division Series, the Phillies announced they would be removing the interim tag from Thomson’s title. He agreed to a two-year contract extension through the 2024 season. Harper said the players brought the idea to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

On Oct. 3, the Phillies played the first of three games in Houston to close out the regular season, and they returned to face the Astros in the World Series a few weeks later. With a 3-0 win, they clinched their first postseason berth since 2011, earning a trip to St. Louis to face the Cardinals in a wild-card series. Thomson set a tradition that night. He began counting down the wins until the Phillies were crowned World Series champions. On that night in October, they were 13 wins away.

Once the Phillies made the playoffs, they played with reckless abandon. It seemed like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders. In Aaron Nola’s first postseason outing of his eight-year career, he sent his team to the National League Division Series, holding the Cardinals to just four hits with one walk and six strikeouts in 6⅔ innings. With a 2-0 win in Game 2, the Phillies were off to the NLDS to face the Atlanta Braves.

Brandon Marsh set the tone early with a three-run home run against his hometown team to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead in Game 4 of the NLDS on Oct. 15. J.T. Realmuto hit an inside-the-park home run. Without Zack Wheeler and Nola, the Phillies had to go with a bullpen game, headed by Noah Syndergaard, and won it, 8-3. It sent to them to the NLCS to face the San Diego Padres.

The Phillies earned their first World Series berth since 2009 in the most dramatic way possible: off a two-run home run crushed by Bryce Harper in the eighth inning. There was “bedlam at the bank” as the Phillies went up 4-3 and closed out the Padres in the ninth inning. It was a moment Phillies fans won’t forget. Thomson became the third manager in MLB history to win a trip to the World Series after being named a midseason replacement.

The Phillies didn’t have the World Series crowning moment they’d desired. But after Game 1, it seemed like they would. After falling behind 5-0, their largest deficit of the postseason, they climbed their way back, tying it in the fifth and beating the Astros, 6-5, after Realmuto hit a home run in the 10th inning. The Phillies didn’t play as fearless in Games 2, 4, 5, and 6. Regardless, it was one of Thomson’s best wins of the postseason — if not the best.