Why Phillies’ Rob Thomson was overlooked in NL Manager of the Year voting

On Monday evening, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) released its lists of finalists for the four regular season awards it hands out every offseason.

The Philadelphia Phillies were represented by their top player this season, starting pitcher Zack Wheeler, who was named a finalist for the NL Cy Young Award. He’s up against Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale and the Pittsburgh Pirates’ super rookie Paul Skenes — needless to say, Wheeler has some tough competition to try to secure his first Cy Young Award.

That was the only finalist from the Phillies for this year’s BBWAA awards. Not that we were expecting anything for NL Rookie of the Year or NL MVP — first baseman Bryce Harper played himself out of that conversation partway through the season.

Phillies’ Rob Thomson overlooked in NL Manager of the Year voting

The NL Manager of the Year Award was the one award the Phillies might have had an outside chance of having a finalist named. However, manager Rob Thomson was not one of the three finalists in the National League. One of the New York Mets’ Carlos Mendoza, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Pat Murphy or the San Diego Padres’ Mike Shildt will wind up as this year’s winner.

The Phillies finished their season in such an underwhelming fashion that you might think Thomson has no business being in this conversation, but there are plenty of reasons why he could have been one of the finalists.

Yes, the Phillies bombed out of the postseason in spectacular fashion, but this is a regular-season award. Perhaps it was how the at-one-time World Series favorite powerhouse Phillies sputtered to the finish line during the second half. That could easily sway voters.

But looking at the balance of the season, Thomson led the Phillies through a phenomenal campaign. The 2024 team won the NL East for the first time since 2011, 13 years ago, snapping the Braves’ six-season streak of division dominance. At 95-67, the Phillies posted the franchise’s best record since that same season when they won 102 games.

Sure, the Phillies have a stable of stars but that doesn’t guarantee success. Every team has stars. Thomson, in his third season as the skipper guided the team through a record-setting first half and got them through a rocky final couple of months to finish six games up in the division. That doesn’t happen by accident.

If they had started slowly and then finished on a surge, like the previous two seasons, would Thomson have been given more consideration? Possibly. But more than likely, they wouldn’t have won the division and would have been a Wild Card team, again.

Either way, it will be interesting where Topper finishes in the voting when the award is announced on Nov. 19. He should get some recognition and votes for the Phillies’ 2024 season.