Don Mattingly unable to win elusive World Series ring, mum on whether retirement is next

TORONTO — Blue Jays coach Don Mattingly 36th MLB season, this one with what he calls a “special, special” team, ended with one of the toughest World Series defeats imaginable in Mattingly’s first appearance in the Fall Classic.

But afterward, Mattingly wasn’t saying whether his illustrious 36-year major league career might be coming to a close, too.

“Tough time to talk about that,” Mattingly told The Post outside the Jays clubhouse after the Jays’ 5-4, 11-inning Game 7 defeat left them as World Series runners-up to the repeat champion $400M Dodgers.

Mattingly, a consummate professional over a superb 14-year playing career and 22-year managing and coaching career, wanted people to know what he thought of this Blue Jays team that exceeded all expectations by taking the $400M Dodgers to the limit.

“Special, special group,” Mattingly said of his Jays. “I don’t think I’ve ever been a group quite like this, everything Schneids [Blue Jays manager John Schneider] created, and the group created.”

Mattingly’s been around all kinds of teams, from the East Coast to the West, from big-market to small, and now in Canada. And he has seen just about everything. But he was obviously hoping for his first World Series championship.

Schneider talks admiringly of Mattingly, his boyhood hero, and all he’s done for a team that exceeded expectations like few others, winning the American League pennant, then coming within two outs of stamping themselves one of the biggest surprise champions.

“This is a team,” Mattingly declared. “This is the definition of team.”

Mattingly should know. He has experienced all kinds of seasons in his 14 years as a Yankees player, 12 years as manager (five with the Dodgers, and seven with the Marlins) and 10 years as a Yankees, Dodgers and now Blue Jays coach, where he serves as a sounding board and confidant for Schneider, who grew in New Jersey admiring Mattingly.

The ending with a lost lead very late, and so many lost chances triggered a lot of tears in the Jays clubhouse, from their many young players to some of their most veteran guys. Mattingly has seen all sorts of October disappointment, including a heart-wrenching playoff defeat with the 1995 Yankees and exits as coach and manager, including three times with these Dodgers, and he held it together while chaperoning his 10-year-old son.

“What can you say? The chances …’” Mattingly noted, recounting some of the lost opportunities. “A lot of things happened … What a series, though.”

The nine-time Gold Glover winner Mattingly said he’s off to the Gold Glove dinner in New York on Nov. 7, where his foundation, Mattingly Charities, will be honored with the prestigious Hearts of Gold award Nov. 7, then his foundation (Mattingly Charities) dinner on Nov. 20 in his hometown, Evansville, Ind. That will feature country music star Larry Fleet and fellow Hoosier Scott Rolen, the Hall of Fame third baseman.

But this series surely will stick with him for a little while.

“Incredible year,” he said. “Incredible ride.”

Mattingly, however, wouldn’t say if his wonderful nearly four-decade ride might be coming to a close.