Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical story to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
Until last Friday, MLB had gone nearly four years without a managerial firing during the middle of a full 162-game season, since the Cardinals dismissed Mike Matheny in July 2018. That’s a remarkable change in pace from earlier this century, when an average of 3.5 teams each year changed managers midseason between ’01 and ’11.
In a time before decisions were heavily influenced by data provided by the front office, switching up the manager was a common tactic for a team looking for a spark or change in philosophy.