JUPITER, Fla. -- Rob Thomson, manager of the Phillies, sat in the visiting team’s dugout in Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on a Saturday morning, an hour and a half before his team would play the Marlins, and 12 days before it would open its season against the Braves at Citizens Bank Park. And what a beauty that one is going to be, as loud an Opening Day matchup -- because of the teams and the setting -- as we’re going to get anywhere.

“The city,” Thomson said, “is going to be fired up. Our fans are exactly the same as we are. They could see the prize right in front of our eyes last season.”

Phillies fans -- all baseball fans, really -- know how true that was for Thomson and his players. They had beaten the Braves again in the postseason. They won the first two games of their National League Championship Series against the Diamondbacks. Eventually leading, three games to two, they played Games 6 and 7 at a ballpark that has been nicknamed “The Vault.” But then it was as if the Diamondbacks broke into it and stole the Phillies' season before they got to make a second straight trip to the World Series.

“We stopped being hot,” Thomson said. “They got hot. That’s baseball.”

Now Thomson and the Phillies are very much ready to get after it again, even from the same division as the Braves, with whom they have forged one of the most entertaining rivalries in the sport over the last couple of years. But then that figures. There aren’t two teams more fun to watch anywhere. Thomson knows. He is managing one of them.

“I’ve never had so much fun in my life,” Thomson said.

Maybe it’s because he had given up on ever having a job like this, much less with a team like this. Thomson had always been one of the most respected and well-liked coaches in the game, one of the hardest workers, one of the most passionate about everything he thinks makes baseball great, from the numbers to what he calls its “great beating heart.” But he was getting near 60, and even working with Joe Girardi in Philly the way he had with the Yankees, he had made up his mind to retire after the 2022 season.

Then Dave Dombrowski, another great baseball man, decided to make a midseason change. It was an off-day in early June. Thomson was, of course, at Citizens Bank Park, working. The Angels were coming to town. Thomson hadn’t seen much of the Angels lately. He wanted, as always, to be as prepared as he possibly could.

Dombrowski called, said he needed to talk to him, asked Thomson to come to his apartment. Told him that he was going to make a change, and that he wanted Thomson to manage the Phillies. As loyal as he was to Girardi, Thomson said yes. Late in the game, he was finally getting his chance.

He knew what to do with it. The Phillies went to the World Series, nearly went again last year and Thomson’s contract was extended for two years last December. Now he and his players are getting ready to make another run, with essentially the same group that came so close to last October, the Series right in front of everybody’s eyes.

“We talk about five things around here,” Thomson said. “Respect the game. Be prepared. Compete, every day. Be selfless. Be yourself. Our guys do it all. They play their asses off, every single day. And it’s clear to everybody, starting with our own fans, how much fun they have doing it.”

Thomson said there is no more obvious example of the Phillies’ fiery personality than Bryce Harper.

“[Harper is] incredible,” his manager said. “He’s just one of those special guys, relentless in everything he does. He just wants to win so badly. We’ve got our share of stars around here. But he’s the one.”

Thomson talked then about the powerful connection between Harper and his teammates and the city of Philadelphia.

“There’s a reason why the fan base has gravitated toward this club the way it has,” Thomson said. “They can see how hard these guys play, how much they all want to win. So do I. So does our owner [John Middleton]. Then there’s Dave [Dombrowski]. We call him ‘The Machine’ around here, just because of the way he’s on top of everything. He sets a tone as much as anybody.”

It is well known that Dombrowski isn’t afraid to make big deals, or spend big when he thinks he has a chance to win. The Phillies just awarded Zack Wheeler, their ace, with a three-year, $126 million contract extension. Dombrowski signed a valuable pro like Whit Merrifield over the winter. But other than that, he was relatively quiet. Maybe the loud message from him, loud as his ballpark, is that he thinks the Phillies are set up to finally go all the way.

“This is a very motivated group,” Thomson said. He smiled. “But I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a little extra motivation this time.”

A baseball lifer, having the time of his life. He’s done a little bit of everything since becoming a coach with the Tigers in 1988. Maybe this is his time, a manager at last, to win it all.