Category: Sports News

PHOENIX — Hall of Famer Robin Yount knew that a luxurious 12-day cruise to Italy had been scheduled long ago by his wife, but it wasn’t until he was nearly aboard the ship that he realized the timing.

The Major League Baseball playoffs were underway and his beloved Milwaukee Brewers, were smack in the middle of it.

Damn. He wanted to be there.

At the least, he wanted to be able to watch on TV.

Well, you try catching a TV signal while bobbing along the waves in the Atlantic.

WORLD SERIES: Brewers-Rays inspires both dreams and nightmares around MLB

“I hadn’t paid attention to the timing of this cruise," Yount tells USA TODAY Sports. “I pulled up the schedule, and it was the start of the playoffs. The first two games [of the NL Division Series], I couldn’t get the games on anything, but the ESPN app.

“So here I am, it’s 2:30 in the morning, and I’m lying in bed for three hours, watching stick figures of balls and strikes, and the lights where the ball was going until 6 in the morning. Then, I remembered, 'Hey, you idiot, you can use the Sirius app to listen.' Then I’m lying in bed all night with an earpiece listening to the broadcast.

“So what was supposed to be a nice, relaxing cruise with stuff going on all day long, and I’m getting about six hours of sleep the entire trip. When the cruise ended, I was beat up."

How Philadelphia rekindled Don Mattingly's desire to manage again originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Don Mattingly is not a meteorologist, but he knows how to read the wind. He knows it was blowing in the direction of Alex Cora, knows that Cora was Dave Dombrowski’s guy, knows that he would not have received a two-year contract to manage the Phillies if Cora had interest in getting back in the game.

Mattingly, in the words of J.T. Realmuto, “turned our season around,” when he took over the 2026 Phillies as interim manager in late April. The team posted a 79-55 record under him, fourth-best in the majors from that point until the end of the season, and tied a franchise record by making the playoffs for a fifth straight year.

And, yet, Mattingly had to wait until Dombrowski felt out Cora and touched base with a couple of other potential candidates, before being named skipper last week.

Some baseball men, especially those of Mattingly’s accomplishment in the game, might not have handled Dombrowski’s tack well. They might have attached an ice pack to their bruised feelings, cued up Johnny Paycheck’s famous song from 1977, and moved on.

But Mattingly didn’t.

“I never felt slighted,” he said as his new deal became official last week. “I want what’s best for the Phillies. If Dave thought that was moving forward (with Cora), then I was going to be good with that. I don’t have an ego that says I have to be whatever. I just don’t need it. So, I’m thrilled to be back and honored that they have faith in me to do the job.”

It’s not difficult to believe Mattingly when he says he wants what’s best for the Phillies. His son, Preston, works under Dombrowski as the team’s general manager. What dad doesn’t want what’s best for his son? Don Mattingly managed the Phillies for just over five months in 2026. In that time, he was never anything but humble and sincere. When the man says he wasn’t slighted, you believe him. He has experience in being underestimated and has handled it well.

“You know, I was a 19^th round pick,” he said. “I got passed over by a lot of guys before they drafted me, so there were a lot of players I was behind.”

Mattingly was a standout high school baseball and basketball player back home in Evansville, Indiana. He was ticketed to play both sports at Indiana State before the New York Yankees made him the 493^rd selection in the 1979 draft. Pretty good pick, those Yankees made. Mattingly went on to win an American League MVP award and a batting title. He made six All-Star teams and won nine Gold Gloves. He earned the kind of nickname – Donnie Baseball – that they only give the great ones. He is one of the all-time beloved Yankees, a little like Chase Utley is in the 215 area code. His No. 23 is retired by the club. He’s received strong consideration for the Hall of Fame in recent Contemporary Era elections (he received eight and six votes, respectively, of a necessary 12 in the last two) and still might get there.

All in all, not bad for a 493^rd pick.

“You just have to keep going and show them what you can do,” Mattingly said.  “To me, it’s stay humble, keep working and worry about winning games.

“I have a lot of confidence in myself. I don’t talk like that. But inside, I’m confident in the way I go about my business. I’m probably not always perfect, but I’m pretty confident.”

Mattingly, 65, previously managed in Los Angeles with the Dodgers and in Miami. The 2027 season will be his 14^th as a big-league skipper.

Prior to joining the Phillies as bench coach last winter, Mattingly was bench coach for three seasons in Toronto. He considered retiring after Toronto, but was talked into joining the Phillies by Dombrowski. At the time he was hired as Phillies bench coach, Mattingly said he was done managing, that he had no desire to do it again. He took over the role on an interim basis at Dombrowski’s request after Rob Thomson was let go in April. In time, his desire to manage again was rekindled.

“I’m excited about being in Philly,” he said. “I think it’s what made me want to manage again. I enjoy the environment. It’s kind of how I grew up playing professionally. I’ve been other places, but this feels more like my personality. What I feel inside, the fans, the fanbase, is more of what I feel about playing and how you should go about it.

“It’s not a cupcake environment. It’s an environment with a lot of expectations and a desire to know what’s going on. Why did you do this? Why did you do that? And I appreciate all of that.”

Though Mattingly experienced regular-season success in 2026, he said it never felt as if the team was fully his.

It will be in 2027, once there’s labor peace between the owners and the players.

He’d like to see the Phillies “play faster,” with players like Trea Turner and Justin Crawford looking to steal more bases. He will emphasize defense. That’s already a big offseason talking point with Dombrowski demanding better defense at shortstop from Turner – or else.

“There are things I want to do differently,” Mattingly said. “It’s hard to score in today’s game. So, defense is a premium. It’s an area I would really like to push.”

With Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter “our starting pitching is as good as anyone in baseball,” Mattingly said. “So, we need to catch the ball, limit extra outs, play a game where we get as much as we possibly can out of our pitching.”

Mattingly will be part of organizational meetings this week as Dombrowski and his top lieutenants put together a plan to get the Phillies back to the postseason for a sixth straight year in 2027. Left unsaid is the team needs to last longer than one round in 2027. The goal remains simple: World Series or bust. Mattingly has never won one – as a player or a manager – and the desire to do so lives deep in his soul.

It is, above all, what drives him.

The Pittsburgh Pirates made a big trade last offseason with the Houston Astros that landed them second baseman Brandon Lowe, outfielder Jake Mangum, and left-handed pitcher Mason Montgomery. All three players made significant contributions for the Pirates in 2026, so it might be in their best interest to make another deal with the team from Space City.

Bleacher Report writer Kerry Miller suggests the trade that would send Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes to the Pirates.

“Brandon Lowe’s one season with Pittsburgh was everything the Pirates could have asked for, playing in 150 games and hitting 35 home runs. Now he’s a free agent, though, and it’s back to the drawing board with several spots in the lineup that could use an infusion of offense. Third base, in particular, is looking bleak, and we’ve previously mentioned that Houston is probably going to be willing to move one of its infielders. And, come on, “Pittsburgh Paredes” is right there as an awesome nickname,“ Miller wrote.

While Paredes has primarily played third base in his first two years with the Astros, he also has experience playing second base. That is where the team might need some reinforcements if Lowe were to walk in free agency.

The Astros have a surplus of infielders, with Carlos Correa re-entering the fold after an original trade brought him back to Houston in 2025, when Paredes went down with a long-term injury.

It’s a trade that could make sense for both sides if there was interest, so Pittsburgh should at least give Houston another call this offseason.

BD community, how do you feel about the possibility of trading for Paredes? Let us know in the comment section below.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The Yankees have a decision to make regarding second base: stick with Anthony Volpe, or explore other options on the free agent and trade markets. Whatever ends up happening, Aaron Judge seems to have Volpe’s back. Following the Yankees’ ALDS Game 3 loss to the Rays, Judge had this to say about the embattled shortstop: “If we were going to win a World Series, we needed Anthony Volpe on the team.” I don’t know if I share that level of confidence, but Volpe did have a nice bounceback from a down 2025, accumulating 1.4 fWAR in just 70 games thanks to much improved defensive numbers. His bat, though, remains uninspiring, unless you believe his offensive resurgence since being called up from Triple-A in September was genuine. (I don’t.)

NJ.com | Randy Miller: Speaking of decisions, earlier in the week, the Yankees elected to retain Aaron Boone as their manager for the 2027 season — though he will not be getting an extension and will just manage the final year of his contract before the Yankees make any decisions on his future. Miller asked four anonymous baseball insiders about their opinion on whether the Yankees should have opted for change. While their conclusions vary, all sources touch on similar, familiar talking points: Boone being too much of a “player’s manager,” questions about clubhouse culture, shaky fundamentals, and concerns about now-free agent Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s behavior. Is it going to be more of the same from Boone and the Yankees in 2027, or will they opt for a more proactive approach in dealing with these issues? I’m leaning towards the former, but we shall see.

The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: Finally, Kirschner offers a useful, plainly laid out overview of the Yankees’ payroll situation for 2027 and the years beyond. While the team has often stated keeping payroll below $300 million as a goal, they currently have more than $200 million in guaranteed money for next year tied up in just seven players – Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Rodón, Ryan McMahon, and Max Fried. Of those seven, McMahon and Stanton stand out in terms of the paucity of value they bring to the team. As such, their future with the team is uncertain.

Lastly, the Yankees’ two best players from 2026 were in attendance last night as the Knicks raised their first championship banner in 53 years at Madison Square Garden. Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice are about as popular a pair of Yankees ambassadors as you’re going to find at this moment in time, so good move!