The job of an MLB manager extends way beyond the lineup card. It’s about turning 26 different personalities into one cohesive unit. It’s about creating a winning culture and guiding everyone through the inevitable valleys of a season.
This season’s six finalists for Manager of the Year all did that and ultimately led their teams to the postseason.
In the American League, the Blue Jays’ John Schneider is a nominee after taking Toronto from worst to first in the AL East. Dan Wilson steered the Mariners to their first division crown since 2001, and the Guardians’ late-season surge to the top of the AL Central is a chief reason why Stephen Vogt might be named MOY for a second straight year.
In the National League, the Brewers’ Pat Murphy is also looking to take home the award for the second consecutive season after Milwaukee finished with the best record in MLB. A win for the Phillies’ Rob Thomson would be his first while the Reds’ Terry Francona could earn this honor for the fourth time, tied for the most in MLB history.
Here’s a look at the case for each of the six Manager of the Year candidates before the winners are announced at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday on MLB Network.
John Schneider, Blue Jays
Schneider took a 74-win team and brought them straight to the top of the American League, blowing away every expectation placed on the Blue Jays coming into 2025. Managers of overachieving teams tend to do well in Manager of the Year voting, and when you consider the individual growth that Schneider himself has shown in this job, he’s made an excellent case to become just the second Blue Jays manager in history to win this award and the first since Bobby Cox in 1985.
While Schneider is always eager to deflect any praise, his players and coaching staff are eager to point it right back to him. At 45 years old and in his third year as a full-time manager, Schneider represents what growth and development look like in this job. He’s been a key figure in the Blue Jays improving their communication and clubhouse culture, which emerged as a legitimate strength on their run to Game 7 of the World Series, and he’s an ace when it comes to dealing with the media, a growing part of the modern manager’s job, especially on a winning team in a major market.
A Blue Jays lifer since he was drafted as a catcher in 2002, Schneider has an innate ability to relate to players, not just within the context of baseball, but often on a more human level. We so often speak about young players making “the jump” in their early years. Schneider, in his third full season as Blue Jays manager, has done exactly that.
Stephen Vogt, Guardians
Only two skippers have won back-to-back Manager of the Year Awards in Hall of Famer Bobby Cox (2004-05) and Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash (2020-21). If Vogt joins that exclusive company, it will be well earned after he led the Guardians through a turbulent summer in his second season as a big league manager.
In a roller-coaster season, Vogt preached a one-day-at-a-time mentality that his clubhouse embraced and rode to the finish line. The twists and turns were plenty. Cleveland had a 10-game losing streak (June 26-July 6) and a 1-9 stretch (Aug. 15-25). All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase and starter Luis Ortiz each went on non-disciplinary paid leave in July amid ongoing MLB investigations. Ace Shane Bieber was dealt to the Blue Jays before the Trade Deadline while he was still on the comeback trail from Tommy John surgery.
In a season-long issue, the Guardians’ offense recorded a .226 team batting average, which ranks as their lowest in a single campaign in franchise history.
Manager of the Year Award winners have often come down to whose club eclipsed expectations from Spring Training. The Guardians soared past what many felt they were capable of deep into the summer. And while Vogt would be first to credit his players and staff, his leadership defined this team’s season.
Dan Wilson, Mariners
In his first full season in 2025, Wilson guided Seattle to a 90-72 record and just its fourth division title in franchise history, which represented a rebound from each of the two prior years, when the Mariners fell short of heightened expectations and finished as the first team on the outside looking in to the playoffs.
Wilson was widely respected among players for his calm demeanor and patience that was blended with a quiet competitiveness that made him resonate in the clubhouse. The Mariners nearly reached their first World Series in franchise history via a roster loaded with talent and star power, but it was Wilson’s culture and environment that allowed that group to thrive — an attribute that doesn’t necessarily show up in the stat sheet.
It’s unlikely that Cal Raleigh would’ve reached the many historic records that he did without Wilson at the helm, who was far more liberal with load management, as players who wanted to play every day did. That’s not to discount what Raleigh achieved, but the catcher did play in 159 games to reach 60 homers. And his relationship with Wilson, dating back to the Minors, allowed Raleigh’s voice to gain even more leadership among players.
While admittedly learning on the job at certain points in the season, the first-time manager did show growth as the year pressed on, which could play into both the Mariners’ longer-term success and Wilson’s shot at the Manager of the Year Award.
Terry Francona, Reds
Already with three Manager of the Year awards on his resume, Francona has repeatedly proven he can make a difference upon arrival and that was the case in Cincinnati, as the Reds won 83 games and clinched an NL Wild Card spot on the season’s final day. For the third time in his career, the 66-year-old led a club to the postseason in his first season after also doing it in Boston (2004) and Cleveland (2013).
Although it can often be seen as a cliché for media quotes, Francona’s penchant for literally focusing on one game at a time served a young and inexperienced club well. Its longest losing streak was only five games and the team went 42 series before being handed its first sweep on Aug. 25-27 against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Under Francona’s steady leadership, the Reds were able to make a big turnaround when it counted most down the stretch. On Sept. 5, they trailed the Mets and the Padres for the final NL Wild Card spot by six games, while also being behind two other teams. Then after being swept for the second and final time by the Athletics from Sept. 12-14 to drop one game under .500 at 74-75, Cincinnati won nine of its final 13 games. It clinched a playoff spot on a tiebreaker advantage over the Mets, having won the season series, 4-2.
It was the 12th time in his 24 seasons that a Francona-managed club reached the playoffs.
Pat Murphy, Brewers
The thing to remember about Murphy’s 2025 Brewers was how it all began. It was still March and they were 0-4, matching the 1954 Cardinals for the most runs allowed in the first four games of any season in the modern era. Remember the torpedo bat craze? The Brewers had a lot to do with that. So did injuries. Six starting pitchers were on the injured list. And another, Nestor Cortes, whose Brewers tenure began in almost unfathomable fashion at Yankee Stadium with three home runs on three pitches, was a week away from adding to the IL.
Murphy had some tricks up his sleeve as the reigning NL Manager of the Year, the first skipper in franchise history to claim that distinction. But even he couldn’t press pause on the schedule.
“You just roll with it and learn something,” Murphy said. “We haven’t been smashed in the face like this in a long, long time.”
The Brewers smashed back, which is why Murphy has a chance to join Bobby Cox (2004-05) and Kevin Cash (2020-21) as the only skippers to win a Manager of the Year Award in back-to-back seasons. For the second straight season, Milwaukee blew away its preseason projections, which this year had them in the neighborhood of 84 wins. That seemed about right in late May when the Brewers sat three games under .500 and seemed to lead the league in team meetings. Then, with Murphy guiding the way, they got hot, rattling off winning streaks of eight, 11 and a franchise-record 14 games between May 25 and Aug. 16 to surge to the best record in baseball.
Rob Thomson, Phillies
Typically, Manager of the Year winners go to managers from teams that exceeded relatively low expectations. That’s probably why Cincinnati’s Terry Francona and Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy are finalists.
Thomson is an outlier here, if that’s the case. The Phillies had a top-five payroll and entered the season with World Series expectations. But Thomson gets credit for easily winning the NL East, which opened as a three-team race with the Phillies, Mets and Braves. But Thomson had to maneuver though several challenges along the way. There were injuries to Zack Wheeler, Bryce Harper and Trea Turner; José Alvarado’s 80-game suspension for PEDs; issues with disgruntled right fielder Nick Castellanos; a porous bullpen until Jhoan Duran arrived in late July and much more.
A huge part of a manager’s job is handling the various personalities in the clubhouse, and Thomson is the best Phillies manager at it since Charlie Manuel.
