Stephen Vogt won’t get a chance to add another AL Manager of the Year trophy to his collection this time around, but the Cleveland Guardians still sit on a piece of MLB history that doesn’t get nearly enough attention.
Vogt was left out of the 2026 finalists, a choice that turned a few heads after he guided Cleveland to back-to-back AL Central titles in 2024 and 2025. Even with the Guardians making another run at the division, the honor is going elsewhere this year. Still, Vogt’s recent work has pushed Cleveland into rare company.
The Guardians now own the most Manager of the Year awards of any franchise in MLB history with six.
“Cleveland has won six Manager of the Year awards, more than any other franchise, and Stephen Vogt won it in both 2024 and 2025. The White Sox are next with five. The Yankees have only three, and the last one came in 1998,” Baseball’s Greatest Moments posted.
Cleveland has won six Manager of the Year awards, more than any other franchise, and Stephen Vogt won it in both 2024 and 2025.
The White Sox are next with five.
The Yankees have only three, and the last one came in 1998. pic.twitter.com/kIdKygFd8j
- Baseball’s Greatest Moments (@BBGreatMoments) November 6, 2026
That lead may not last long. Once this year’s winner is announced on Tuesday, the Chicago White Sox are expected to move into a tie with Cleveland at the top of the list. White Sox manager Will Venable is viewed as the favorite over fellow finalists Chad Tracy of the Boston Red Sox and Kevin Cash of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Venable has a strong case after helping Chicago reach the playoffs following three straight seasons with at least 100 losses. And the White Sox’s path makes the race even more striking: they held a six-game division lead over Cleveland in August, only to watch Vogt and the Guardians surge past them late.
Cleveland’s list of honorees also says plenty about the franchise’s recent managerial track record. Vogt followed Terry Francona, who won the award three times for the Guardians in 2013, 2016, and 2022. Eric Wedge also took home the honor for Cleveland in 2007.
There’s another twist buried in the numbers: every Cleveland winner has come after Chicago’s most recent one. That means the White Sox once had a 5-0 edge over the Guardians in Manager of the Year awards. Tony La Russa won the first award in 1983, and Ozzie Guillen was Chicago’s last winner in 2005.
As for Vogt, rumors had swirled that he might leave Cleveland this offseason, but he is set to return and make another push for the award in 2027.
In Other News...
Guardians Free Agent Search Keeps Pointing To The Same Type Of Target
As the offseason market starts to take shape, the Guardians search for help keeps circling back to a familiar profile under Chris Antonetti: players with some track record, some bounce-back appeal and a price tag that fits a club that has to be selective. Michael Conforto, Dustin May, Paul Goldschmidt and Nick Pivetta are among the names that surface in that conversation, along with one other free agent whose fit also lines up with Clevelands usual approach to roster building.
What makes the list interesting is less the star power than the pattern. These are the kinds of targets that can make sense for Cleveland if the front office believes there is more value to unlock than the market is currently assigning, especially with budget constraints shaping every move. None of it points to a finished plan yet, but it does suggest the Guardians are once again shopping in the same aisle they have preferred before, where upside and affordability matter as much as the headline. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians May Have Their First Base Answer Closer Than Expected
Ralphy Velazquezs rise through the Guardians system has given the organization something it has been searching for at first base: a real internal option with impact upside. After being drafted in 2023 as a catcher and quickly shifted to first base, he put together a breakout 2026 season that showed why Cleveland has kept moving him along, combining power and contact across Double-A and Triple-A while looking like a bat that could fit sooner rather than later.
For a club that has been looking for more offense at that spot, Velazquezs development has become one of the more intriguing storylines in the system. The Guardians are expected to at least consider him for a major league look in 2027, and if his bat keeps trending the way it did this year, the question may not be whether he belongs in the conversation but how soon they are willing to make room for him. [Read more 🡒]
Chase DeLauter Has A Strong Rookie Of The Year Case
Chase DeLauter spent enough of the season making noise that his name belongs in the Rookie of the Year conversation even if it never made the finalist list. The Cleveland outfielders offensive production stacked up well against the 2026 finalists, and when you line his numbers up beside Kevin McGonigles, the gap is not nearly as wide as the voting results suggest. For a player who has already given the Guardians a real look at his ceiling, that alone is a meaningful sign of where his rookie year landed.
The separation came more from the fuller picture than from the bat alone, with WAR and games played helping explain why the finalists ended up where they did. DeLauter can still make a legitimate case that he belonged in that group, and Cleveland fans have every reason to view him as one of the seasons most impressive first-year performers. Even so, the voters choices are easy enough to understand, which is part of what makes DeLauters season feel both encouraging and just a little unfinished. [Read more 🡒]