Will Venable and Pat Murphy added another layer to their seasons on Tuesday, when the Baseball Writers Association of America announced its Manager of the Year results.
Venable earned the American League honor after guiding the White Sox through the league’s biggest turnaround in 2026. Chicago had stumbled to a 60-102 finish in his first year on the job, then bounced back to 84-78 and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2021. The White Sox did let a September lead in the AL Central slip away to Cleveland, but they still locked up the No. 6 seed in the American League.
What made the season stand out was the way Chicago did it. The lineup was one of the youngest in baseball, with only Washington, St.
Louis and Miami carrying younger hitters on average, according to Baseball Reference. That youth showed up in the strikeout totals, but it also came with real punch: the Sox ranked fifth in the majors in home runs and overall scoring.
Venable’s staff also had to patch together the pitching staff on the fly. The rotation never gave them much depth, and Sean Burke and Anthony Kay were the only steady options down the stretch. Chicago leaned hard on openers and multi-inning relievers to get through games, and no club got fewer innings from its “starters” than the White Sox, who logged just 674 2/3.
The vote was close. Venable took 15 of 30 first-place votes and edged Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash, who received 12.
Red Sox manager Chad Tracy finished third with the other three first-place votes. Stephen Vogt, the winner in each of the previous two seasons, landed in fourth, while Aaron Boone and Joe Espada also picked up votes.
Venable became the sixth manager in White Sox history to win the award, joining Tony La Russa (1983), Jeff Torborg (1990), Gene Lamont (1993), Jerry Manuel (2000) and Ozzie Guillén (2005).
Murphy, meanwhile, made history in the National League. The Brewers skipper became the first manager ever to win the award in three straight years.
Milwaukee rolled to an MLB-best 103 wins, finishing three ahead of any other team. The Brewers got production throughout the lineup and paired it with one of the league’s top run prevention groups. They won the NL Central by 14 games, the largest division margin in either league.
The BBWAA ballots are cast at the end of the regular season, so Murphy’s award was locked in before October even began. Still, the Brewers kept the momentum going with a dominant postseason stretch, going 11-2 against the Padres, Dodgers and Rays on the way to the first championship in franchise history. They were the best team in baseball from essentially May onward.
Murphy collected 20 first-place votes. Atlanta’s Walt Weiss finished second with seven, and Philadelphia’s Don Mattingly was third with one first-place vote.
San Diego’s Craig Stammen actually drew two first-place votes, but Mattingly got the nod for third after finishing with two more second-place votes. Dave Roberts, Craig Counsell and Don Kelly also appeared on ballots.
At 67, Murphy remains the only manager in Brewers history to win the award. He is the 10th manager since the honor was introduced in 1983 to take it three times. Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox and Buck Showalter are the only four-time winners.
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