Will Venable of the Chicago White Sox and Pat Murphy of the Milwaukee Brewers were named Major League Baseball’s 2026 Managers of the Year on Tuesday, with Murphy becoming the first manager to win the award in three consecutive seasons, Sportsnet reported.

Venable won the American League honour after guiding Chicago to an 84–78 record and a playoff berth. The White Sox returned to the post-season following three consecutive seasons with at least 100 losses, a turnaround that put Venable ahead of fellow finalists Kevin Cash and Chad Tracy in the voting.

Chicago followed its regular-season recovery by sweeping the Houston Astros in the wild-card round. Its playoff run ended in the American League Division Series, where the White Sox lost to the Cleveland Guardians in five games.

Venable became the sixth White Sox manager to receive the award. He joins Tony La Russa, who won in 1983; Jeff Torborg in 1990; Gene Lamont in 1993; Jerry Manuel in 2000; and Ozzie Guillen in 2005.

In the National League, Murphy finished ahead of fellow finalists Walt Weiss and Don Mattingly. The 67-year-old led Milwaukee to an MLB-best 103 regular-season wins, then guided the Brewers to the franchise’s first World Series championship during the post-season.

Murphy took over as Milwaukee’s manager in 2024 and has led the club to a division title in each of his three seasons. He remains the only Brewers manager to have won Manager of the Year, according to Sportsnet’s report.

The Baseball Writers Association of America conducted the voting before the post-season. Both managers’ playoff results therefore came after ballots were cast: Venable’s first-round sweep and Murphy’s championship run were not part of the seasons voters had completed assessing.

Sources