CINCINNATI – After leading the Reds to the playoffs in his first year with the club, Terry Francona was named the runner-up for the National League Manager of the Year Award.
In voting conducted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and revealed on Tuesday, Francona finished second to Brewers manager Pat Murphy. Phillies skipper Rob Thomson was third.
A three-time American League Manager of the Year with Cleveland (2022, ’16, ’13), Francona guided the Reds to an 83-79 record and an NL Wild Card berth after coming out of a one-year retirement. He earned his milestone 2,000th win as a Major League manager on July 13, and he is 12th on the all-time managerial wins list with 2,033, most among active managers.
For the third time in his career, Francona led a club to the postseason in his first season after also doing it in Boston (2004) and Cleveland (‘13). It was Cincinnati’s first playoff appearance after a full regular season since ‘13. (The Reds earned an NL Wild Card berth in the COVID-shortened ‘20 season.)
The Reds went 42 consecutive series in 2025 before being swept for the first time on Aug. 25-27 by the Dodgers, with only one other sweep the rest of the way. The club also didn’t endure a losing streak longer than five games.
Under Francona’s guidance, Cincinnati was able to pull off a big turnaround down the stretch. On Sept. 5, the Reds (70-71) trailed the Mets and the Padres (76-65) by six games for the final NL Wild Card spot. Then after being swept 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.
Had Francona won on Tuesday, it would have been a record-tying fourth Manager of the Year Award. He was runner-up for the second time, after finishing second to the Twins’ Paul Molitor in 2017.
