November 4, 2025
By Kevin Glew
Cooperstowners in Canada
Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson has been named a National League Manager of the Year finalist.
He is up against Cincinnati Reds skipper Terry Francona and Milwaukee Brewers dugout boss Pat Murphy for the honour.
Thomson (Corunna, Ont.) is a first-time finalist for the award. He finished fifth in the voting in 2022 and 2024.
The 62-year-old Canadian guided the Phillies to a 96-66 record and a National League East division title this season before they were ousted in four games by the eventual World Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series.
The winner of the award will be announced on November 11.
When Thomson took over as manager of the Phillies on June 4, 2022, he became the first full-time Canadian big league manager since George Gibson (London, Ont.) with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1934.
Since becoming the Phillies’ skipper, Thomson has led the team to four straight postseason appearances. After piloting the Phillies to a National League pennant in 2022 and a National League Championship Series berth in 2023, Thomson guided the Phillies to back-to-back division titles in 2024 and 2025.
His .580 regular season winning percentage is the best among Phillies skippers who have managed at least 150 games for the club
Prior to joining the Phillies, Thomson, a catcher on the 1984 Canadian Olympic team, spent close to three decades as a coach in the Yankees’ organization and earned five World Series rings. He was the Bombers’ third base coach on their most recent World Series-winning squad in 2009. He was also a bench coach on multiple Yankees squads that advanced to the postseason.
Thomson was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.
The Manager of the Year Award is voted on by two members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America from each National League city.
The last Phillies skipper to win the award was Larry Bowa in 2001.
No Canadian has ever won an MLB Manager of the Year award.
Thanks for the update.
Thanks for reading this.
Fingers crossed for Rob! Let’s hope he wins
That would be nice. I’m not very optimistic though.