Night two of MLB awards week went to a manager who turned around one of the worst teams in baseball and a manager who keeps making history in Milwaukee. Will Venable of the White Sox won AL Manager of the Year, and Pat Murphy of the Brewers won the NL award for the third straight year. Both awards are voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, and the ballots are turned in before the playoffs start.
AL: Will Venable, White Sox
Venable got 15 of the 30 first-place votes and finished with 111 points. Kevin Cash of the Rays was a close second with 12 first-place votes and 98 points, and Chad Tracy of the Red Sox was third with 47 points.
| Manager, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will Venable, White Sox | 15 | 11 | 3 | 111 |
| Kevin Cash, Rays | 12 | 12 | 2 | 98 |
| Chad Tracy, Red Sox | 3 | 5 | 17 | 47 |
| Stephen Vogt, Guardians | 0 | 1 | 6 | 9 |
| Aaron Boone, Yankees | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Joe Espada, Astros | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The White Sox lost 121 games in 2024, a modern-era record, and 102 more in 2025, Venable’s first season. In 2026 they went 84-78, even after a 1-5 start, and sat atop the AL Central for 96 days. According to MLB.com, they became the first team to reach the postseason after losing 100 or more games in each of the two previous seasons.
As the AL’s sixth seed, Chicago swept the Astros in the Wild Card Series and won the first two games of the Division Series in Cleveland before the Guardians came back to win three straight. It was the White Sox’s first playoff trip since 2021.
Venable, 43, is the sixth White Sox manager to win the award and the first since Ozzie Guillén in 2005. Stephen Vogt, who had won the last two AL awards, finished fourth.
NL: Pat Murphy, Brewers
Murphy got 20 first-place votes and 124 points. Walt Weiss of the Braves was second with 86 points, Don Mattingly of the Phillies third with 25, and Craig Stammen of the Padres fourth with 24.
Murphy is the first manager to win Manager of the Year three years in a row in either league. Nine managers have won it at least three times, but none had done it consecutively.
The Brewers went 103-59, the best record in baseball and a franchise record. It was their first 100-win season and their fourth straight division title. Projection systems had Milwaukee at around 81 or 82 wins before the season, and Brewers rookie pitchers made 80 starts, the most in the majors. Then Milwaukee beat the Padres, swept the Dodgers and beat the Rays in five games for the franchise’s first World Series title. The playoffs did not count toward the award, but they capped off the season.
Murphy took over for Craig Counsell before the 2024 season after eight years as his bench coach. The Brewers are 293-193 in the regular season under him.
My Take
Both votes make sense. The AL race was close, and Kevin Cash had a strong case after taking the Rays to the World Series. But going from 121 losses to the playoffs in two years is the kind of turnaround the award is made for. In the NL, Murphy keeps getting more out of the Brewers than anyone expects. Three straight awards and a championship is quite a run.
What’s Next
Awards week continues with the Cy Young Awards on Wednesday and the MVPs on Thursday. Parker Messick is one of the AL Cy Young finalists. If you missed it, here is my Rookie of the Year post from Monday night.
Photo: White Sox home game, July 9, 2025, by Command Sgt. Maj. Anthony L. Taylor, U.S. Army Reserve, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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