Venable Wins AL Manager of the Year, and Pat Murphy Makes History With a Third Straight

Tuesday, November 10, 2026 — one manager rewarded for a historic turnaround, another for a historic streak.

Will Venable of the White Sox was named American League Manager of the Year on Tuesday night, and Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy won the National League award for the third straight season — the first manager ever to do that. Voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America was completed before the postseason.

Venable’s Turnaround

The AL race was the closest of the night. Venable received 15 of 30 first-place votes and 111 points, edging Kevin Cash of the pennant-winning Rays (12 first-place votes, 98 points). Boston’s Chad Tracy, who took over for the fired Alex Cora in April, finished third with three first-place votes and 47 points. Two-time defending winner Stephen Vogt was fourth.

Venable’s case was the size of the leap. The White Sox lost a modern-era record 121 games in 2024, the year before he arrived, then went 60-102 in his first season. In his second, they improved by 24 wins to 84-78, finished second in the AL Central and became the first team to reach the playoffs after three straight 100-loss seasons. They then beat Houston in the Wild Card Series.

“This group in Spring Training developed a belief in themselves, a belief in each other, and then went out and did it,” Venable said. He is the first White Sox manager to win the award since Ozzie Guillen in 2005. Before Chicago, he was on Bruce Bochy’s staff for the Rangers’ 2023 title.

Murphy’s Three-Peat

Murphy received 20 of 30 first-place votes and 124 points, ahead of Atlanta’s Walt Weiss (seven first-place votes, 86 points). Don Mattingly and San Diego’s Craig Stammen received the other first-place votes.

The award recognizes only the regular season, when Milwaukee won a franchise-record 103 games. The World Series title came afterward. Only three other managers have won it three times with the same organization, and Bobby Cox, Buck Showalter and Tony La Russa are the only four-time winners.

There was a personal twist: Murphy scheduled hip replacement surgery for after the World Series — without considering when the award would be announced. Venable, fittingly, played briefly for Murphy in San Diego in 2015.

The Read

Venable’s award validates the fastest rebuild in recent memory, and Murphy’s cements him as one of the best managers of this era. With a championship ring added this year, Murphy’s three-peat may be only the start of a Hall of Fame conversation.