Murphy makes it three straight; Venable wins for the White Sox turnaround

Pat Murphy has done something no manager had done in the history of the BBWAA award: win it three seasons in a row. Milwaukee’s manager received 20 of 30 first-place votes and 124 points in the National League voting announced Tuesday. Will Venable won the American League award with 111 points, 13 ahead of Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash.

Murphy’s support extended beyond the writers who put him first. He appeared on every NL ballot, with seven second-place votes and three thirds. Atlanta’s Walt Weiss finished second with 86 points, receiving seven first-place votes and 16 seconds. Philadelphia’s Don Mattingly was third with 25 points, one ahead of San Diego’s Craig Stammen.

Milwaukee won 103 regular-season games. MLB.com reports that the Brewers scored the second-most runs in the majors despite hitting the second-fewest home runs, and used rookie starters in 80 of their 162 games. Those details describe the managerial challenge behind the total: getting production from different kinds of players while repeatedly handing the ball to pitchers still establishing themselves.

Chicago’s improvement wins the closer vote

Venable’s case rested on a sharp change in Chicago’s direction. The White Sox went from 60-102 in 2025 to 84-78 and a wild-card berth in 2026. A 24-win improvement took them from a hundred-loss season into October. He became the sixth White Sox manager to win the BBWAA award.

The AL vote was much closer than the NL vote. Venable received 15 first-place votes, Cash 12 and Boston’s Chad Tracy three. Venable added 11 seconds and three thirds. Cash had 12 seconds and two thirds, finishing with 98 points; Tracy had 47.

The arithmetic explains the 13-point margin. Venable gained 15 points on Cash from their first-place difference, gave back three points on second-place votes and gained one on thirds. No AL manager appeared on all 30 ballots. Venable was named on 29 and Cash on 26.

These awards recognize the regular season. The writers submitted their ballots before the postseason, so Milwaukee’s later World Series championship did not enter Murphy’s vote. Three consecutive awards instead recognize the sustained work of keeping a club successful across three separate regular seasons, with changing personnel and demands.

Every point in the two races

The full AL order, with first-, second- and third-place votes followed by points: Venable 15/11/3, 111; Cash 12/12/2, 98; Tracy 3/5/17, 47; Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt 0/1/6, 9; the Yankees’ Aaron Boone 0/1/1, 4; Houston’s Joe Espada 0/0/1, 1.

The full NL order: Murphy 20/7/3, 124; Weiss 7/16/3, 86; Mattingly 1/3/11, 25; Stammen 2/1/11, 24; the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts 0/2/1, 7; the Cubs’ Craig Counsell 0/1/0, 3; Pittsburgh’s Don Kelly 0/0/1, 1.

Each league uses 30 ballots and a five-three-one points system. Murphy won by 38 points, Venable by 13. The results reward two different accomplishments: maintaining a high standard in Milwaukee and changing the trajectory of a rebuilding team in Chicago.