The Baseball Writers Association of America announced that Rangers captain Stephen Vogt and Brewers manager Pat Murphy have been named the league’s managers of the year.
Both men took the award after leading their teams to the top of the Central Division in their first year. Vogt took over the Guardian less than a year and a half after retiring as a player. He spent one season on Seattle’s staff as the bullpen coach before Cleveland hired him to replace Hall of Famer Terry Francona. Vogt took over a team that had a much weaker perimeter than the typical guard game, especially on the back end Shane Bieber he went down twice early in the season.
Expectations outside the organization were generally not very high. Cleveland, however, ran away with the AL Central. They built up a streak of nine games at the end of June and never looked back. The Guardians went on to a 92-win season, 16 more games than they had in 2023. They outscored their opponents by 87 runs, mostly on the strength of an elite bullpen. Vogt’s relief team easily led the majors with a 2.57 earned run average. The Rangers grabbed the #2 seed in the American League to secure a first round berth.
Voting for the awards takes place before the start of the postseason, so the playoffs did not affect these honors. Cleveland held on by defeating the Tigers in the Division Series. They dropped a five-game set to the top-seeded Yankees in the Championship Series. Although it didn’t end as expected, it was a more successful season than most people thought.
Vogt instead won the support of voters. He held 27 of the 30 places selected. Kansas City’s Matt Quatraro and Detroit’s AJ Hinch were the only other American League first-ballot recipients. Qutraro and Hinch finished second and third, respectively. Joe Espada, Aaron Boone, Mark Kotsay, Rocco Baldelli and Alex Cora all appeared on at least one vote.
The story was much the same in the National League. Murphy was in his first year at the helm. Like Vogt, he has taken over as one of the most respected managers in the game. Craig Counsell left to sign with the Cubs, leaving Murphy in charge of the dugout for the first time since his stint with the Padres in 2015. Like Cleveland, Milwaukee’s rotation has previously been depleted by injuries and trades.
The Brewers have found success in unheralded starters Tobias Myers again Colin Rea. Their bullpen was arguably the best in the National League. Despite the loss Devin Williams In the first half of the season, Milwaukee’s pitchers led the NL with a 3.11 ERA trailing only Cleveland’s overall mark. The Brewers outscored opponents by 136 runs to post a 93-69 record. They repeated their results from Counsell’s final season and captured their third NL Central title in four years.
Milwaukee’s year ended with a crushing defeat. Williams’ save for the Mets in the Wild Card round left them out of the first round for the second year in a row. That’s not a factor in the vote, of course, and it’s not like anyone can blame Murphy for turning to his star next to that situation.
Murphy instead became the first Brewers manager to win the award. Surprisingly Counsel never won that honor. Like Vogt, Murphy took 27 of the 30 first places. San Diego’s Mike Shildt, New York’s Carlos Mendoza and Philadelphia’s Rob Thomson earned first-place nods. Shieldt and Mendoza placed second and third, respectively. Torey Lovullo finished fourth, and Thomson rounded out the top five. Brian Snitker, Dave Roberts and Oli Marmol also received votes.
Full voter details courtesy of BBWAA.
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