Pat Murphy won the National League Manager of the Year award for a third straight season on Tuesday night, and Will Venable took the American League honour in his second season with the Chicago White Sox. Murphy, 67, became the first manager from either league to win the award three years in a row. He learned the result from a hospital bed in Milwaukee, where he was recovering from hip replacement surgery. Venable, 44, led the White Sox to the playoffs after two straight seasons of at least 100 losses, a turnaround no team in baseball history had pulled off before.
Murphy makes Manager of the Year history
The Manager of the Year voting was conducted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America before the postseason, and Murphy received 20 of 30 first-place votes for 124 points. He also had seven second-place votes and three third-place votes. The vote was taken before the playoffs, so Milwaukee’s run to its first World Series title did not count toward the result. The Brewers won a franchise-record 103 games in the regular season, the most in the majors, and won the National League Central by 14 games. It was their fourth straight division title and their third in three seasons under Murphy, who spent eight seasons on Craig Counsell’s coaching staff before taking over. The award began in 1983, and Murphy is the 10th manager to win it at least three times. Philadelphia’s Don Mattingly and Atlanta’s Walt Weiss were the other National League finalists.
Murphy had planned the timing of his hip replacement surgery around the World Series, but he had not counted on the award announcement falling during his recovery. He gave interviews on MLB Network from his hospital bed before and after the Manager of the Year announcement, a day after the operation. He turns 68 on November 28. Murphy is the only manager in Brewers history to win Manager of the Year, and he has the most wins in the first three years of managing a team since Joe Torre with the New York Yankees from 1996 to 1998. Milwaukee went 11-2 in the postseason on the way to the World Series title, less than two weeks before the award was announced.
Venable ends the White Sox wait
Venable received 15 of 30 first-place votes and 111 points, with 11 second-place votes and three third-place votes. He is the first White Sox manager to win the award since Ozzie Guillen in 2005, and the sixth in the club’s history. Chicago went 84-78 and finished second in the American League Central, reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2021. The White Sox lost a modern-era record 121 games in 2024, then went 60-102 in Venable’s first season in 2025. Only the third of the three straight 100-loss seasons came under Venable, and the club then became the first team ever to reach the playoffs after losing 100 or more games in consecutive seasons. Chicago swept Houston in the American League Wild Card Series. Venable is a former big league outfielder who took his first managerial job with a club coming off 121 losses.
The American League Manager of the Year race had Kevin Cash of Tampa Bay second with 98 points and 12 first-place votes, and Boston’s Chad Tracy third with 47 points and three first-place votes. The World Series win came less than two weeks before the announcement, and Milwaukee went 11-2 in the postseason on the way to the title.
What the Manager of the Year votes show
The two winners took different routes to the same award. Murphy took over a club that was already winning and pushed it to a franchise record and a title. Venable took over a club at its lowest point and had it back in the playoffs within two seasons. Both Manager of the Year winners were voted on by 30 members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, with points given for first, second and third-place votes. The two men will now try to do it again next season, with Murphy chasing a fourth straight award and Venable trying to build on a first playoff trip. Murphy’s third straight Manager of the Year award puts him alone in the record book.
The Cy Young Award winners and Relievers of the Year will be announced on Wednesday. The Most Valuable Player winners will be revealed on Thursday.