Don Mattingly is out as Miami Marlins manager

Don Mattingly is out as the Miami Marlins manager. I criticized Mattingly’s work frequently in the past, so I’m not upset as today’s big news. I have high hopes for potential replacements and believe that some others would do a better job than Donnie next season. I was frustrated with his bullpen usage and obsession with lefty/righty matchups so bright times are ahead. What’s Don Mattingly’s legacy with the Miami Marlins?

Don Mattingly was mostly a losing manager with the Miami Marlins.

Owner Bruce Sherman had the Miami Marlins post this message today:

This officially ended the Don Mattingly era in Miami. How did he ultimately do? Well first of all he’ll finish out the rest of the season, and we don’t know how he’ll do on his new team (if he even manages next season), but his legacy with us is hardly very memorable…

Don Mattingly arrived to the Miami Marlins, as the manager who lost more playoff series and games in the history of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was underperforming so much, that they moved on from him and ultimately did significantly better with him out of town.

Don Mattingly’s first season with The Fish came in 2016 with a 79-82 win-loss record. The team had a 78-83 Pythagorean win-loss record. In 2017, the team went 77-85 with a matching Pythagorean record. At this point you could say that he simply didn’t take the team to the next level.

In 2018, Don Mattingly led us to a 63-98 record with a 58-103 Pythagorean record, implying that he improved the team. In 2019, The Fish went 57-105 with a better 61-101 Pythagorean record. This of course implies that the team did worse than expected. At this point he simply managed a bad team. In 2020, Donnie Baseball took us to the playoffs with a 31-29 record (26-34 Pythagorean). We even swept the Chicago Cubs in the NL WildCard playoffs, before getting swept in the NLDS by the Atlanta Braves.

2020 was a major improvement for Don Mattingly’s Miami Marlins. The Miami Marlins went 67-95 with a 72-90 Pythagorean record. It was a step back, followed by a 63-89 (65-87 Pythagorean record) this season. It seems that outside of a shortened season he just didn’t take the team to the next level, it wasn’t all his fault but he typically underperformed as compared to expectations. He also had a 50.4% overturn rate on calls. Pretty average basically.

Don Mattingly didn’t have the best rosters to work with, but he also didn’t do much to take the team to the next level. It didn’t appear as if he motivated the players enough, or find ways to get the most out of the players. The record-setting number on one-run losses and the average rate of overturned calls describes his tenure unfortunately well.