Don Mattingly thought he was done with baseball. The Phillies instead pinned playoff hopes on him.

PHILADELPHIA — Don Mattingly thew in the towel on his managerial career and had all but retired from baseball after he left his bench coach job with Toronto following the World Series.

Prodded by his son, Mattingly decided to give baseball another go, and accepted a job over the winter as Philadelphia’s bench coach, where he would be reunited with his old friend from their New York Yankees days in manager Rob Thomson .