Phillies do the right thing at the right time, extending Rob Thomson before NLDS vs. Braves

Four days ago, on the eve of the Phillies’ first postseason game in more than a decade, Zack Wheeler and J.T. Realmuto said what everybody in the organization was thinking.

Rob Thomson was no longer an interim manager.

He was the manager.

Our manager.

“He waited for his and he got his,” said Wheeler, who one day later would hold the Cardinals scoreless for 6⅓ innings as the Phillies rallied for a 6-3 win in their first postseason game in 11 years. “Hopefully maybe he’ll be back here next year.”

» READ MORE: Phillies remove interim tag, sign manager Rob Thomson to two-year deal

Realmuto was quick to second that emotion.

“I think everyone in the clubhouse feels the same way,” the veteran catcher said.

On Monday, the Phillies not only made it official, they made it official at the best possible time, removing Thomson’s interim title and signing him to a two-year contract extension on the eve of their National League Division Series opener against the heavily favored Braves. In doing so, owner John Middleton and president Dave Dombrowski took the one meaningful action they had at their disposal to ensure that their underdog team would enter Tuesday’s series opener in Atlanta with the maximum amount of positive vibes.

“I don’t know what else you would have to do from a managerial perspective to earn a contract extension,” said Dombrowski, who watched for five months as Thomson took over for the fired Joe Girardi and led the Phillies from seven games under .500 to an 87-75 record and a two-game sweep over St. Louis in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

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Dombrowski said on Monday afternoon that he’d long agreed with his players’ assessment that Thomson had more than earned the full-time job. But he also wanted to abide by Major League Baseball’s requirement that clubs consider racial minority candidates when filling a managerial opening. Once the Phillies beat the Cardinals to advance to the next round of the playoffs, he decided that any further delay would only cheapen the spirit of the so-called Selig Rule. After calling the commissioner’s office to request permission, he summoned Thomson to his hotel room in Atlanta and asked him to stay with the team full-time.

Give credit to Dombrowski and the bosses in the Major League Baseball front office. The move had become so obvious that it made no sense to wait any longer in making it official. At 59 years old, with a lifetime in the game, Thomson has waited long enough for the right to call himself a big-league manager. His players wanted it. His boss wanted it. The time was so right that waiting for the future would have seemed wrong.

“It’s a really good ballclub now, and it’s only going to get better,” Thomson said. “And for them to have that confidence in me is really humbling.”

Thomson is as big of a reason as any to believe that the Phillies have a chance at surmounting the odds they face in their best-of-five series against the NL East champion Braves. After a regular season in which Atlanta won 11 of its 19 games against the Phillies, Vegas sportsbooks have given the Braves a 65 % chance at advancing to the best-of-seven NLCS and competing for a berth in the World Series.

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But the Phillies are riding high heading into Tuesday’s duel between starting left-handers Max Fried and Ranger Suárez. Anybody who watched them celebrate their Game 2 clincher over the Cardinals will attest to that.

“I can guarantee you that nobody wants to face the Phillies right now,” Realmuto said.

Their manager is as big of a reason for that as any. Ever since Thomson took over for Girardi in early May, the Phillies have credited the first-time skipper for his ability to instill a level of confidence and comfort in a clubhouse that at times had seemed to be suffocating from the weight of high expectations.

» READ MORE: With Wheeler and Nola rolling, these Phillies are a live underdog in NLDS vs. Braves

You saw his impact throughout the Phillies’ two-game sweep of the Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Friday and Saturday. Alec Bohm, who began the season by getting booed off the field during a three-error game, robbed the Cardinals of two extra-base hits with diving stops of line drives in the Phillies’ 2-0 victory in Game 2.

Zach Eflin, whose season seemed to be over after he suffered another frustrating injury to a knee that has plagued him throughout his career, pitched the ninth inning of both victories, including a scoreless save in the clincher on Saturday night. Aaron Nola, long derided for his supposed inability to win in big spots, pitched his second scoreless clincher in as many starts, holding St. Louis without a run for 6⅓ innings five days after taking a perfect game into the seventh inning in a win over the Astros that secured the Phillies’ first postseason berth since 2011.

Thomson’s ascension from longtime man-behind-the-curtain to first-in-command is a testament to his leadership strengths. The Phillies have spent the last 11 years attempting a string of high-profile hires, from an old-school Hall of Fame second baseman in Ryne Sandberg to a new-age guru type in Gabe Kapler to a former World Series champ in Girardi. In the end, it was Thomson’s calming presence and genuine respect for his players that gave a talented but odd-fitting roster the manager it needed.

“Why didn’t the opportunity come up before?” Dombrowski said. “I can’t answer that. I’ve asked a couple of people that question and they seem to scratch their head.”

A lot of teams got it wrong before the Phillies got it right. That’s all there is to say.

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