CHICAGO — Will Venable of the Chicago White Sox is the 2026 American League Manager of the Year, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced Tuesday night, capping a season in which a club that had lost 100 or more games three years running climbed into the postseason.
Venable, 43, collected 111 points in the vote. Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash was runner-up with 98. He was listed first on 15 ballots and missed being named on just one of the 30 ballots cast. Boston’s Chad Tracy, who took over as interim manager in late April, was the third finalist.
Chicago won 84 games in Venable’s second year after winning 60 in 2025, and the club spent 96 days in first place in the AL Central. The White Sox entered October as the third AL Wild Card, swept Houston in two games and won the first two games of the Division Series at Cleveland before the Guardians took three in a row to end their run.
The team became the first in big-league history to reach the playoffs after back-to-back seasons of 100 or more losses. The White Sox lost a modern-era record 121 games in 2024 and 102 more in Venable’s first season.
Venable is the sixth White Sox manager to win the award and the first since Ozzie Guillen in 2005, which ties Chicago with Cleveland for the most winners of any franchise. Votes are cast at the end of the regular season, so playoff results play no part.
In the National League, Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy won the honor for a third straight year, the first manager ever to do so.
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