Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy and Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt win Manager of the Year for 2nd straight season

Pat Murphy grew up going to minor league games at MacArthur Stadium in Syracuse, New York. In those days, the local team tried to retrieve all the baseballs that went over the fence during batting practice, but Murphy would pocket a souvenir or two before he was run off.

Quite often chased away by Bobby Cox or a member of his staff.

That long-running connection came full circle Tuesday night when Murphy won the NL Manager of the Year award for the second straight season. The only other NL manager to take home the honor in consecutive years was Cox for Atlanta in 2004 and 2005.

Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt also was a repeat winner as AL Manager of the Year, receiving 17 of 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Toronto’s John Schneider got 10 first-place votes and finished second, followed by Seattle’s Dan Wilson. Voting was conducted before the postseason.

The previous AL manager to win in consecutive seasons was Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash in 2020 and 2021.

“He’s well-deserving. Does a great job with his club,” Murphy said of Vogt. “He’s going to be a Hall of Fame manager, I really believe that.”

Murphy got 27 first-place votes. Cincinnati’s Terry Francona was second, followed by Philadelphia’s Rob Thomson.

The folksy Murphy, who turns 67 on Nov. 28, was coaching Arizona State University when he formally introduced himself to Cox in the early 2000s.

“I said, `I’ve always wanted to meet you,’ and he looked at me, and he goes, ‘So now you have,'” a chuckling Murphy said. “And it was dead silent. I’m like, I don’t know if this guy’s messing with me or what, but I interrupted something.”

The Cy Young Award winner for each league will be announced on Wednesday, and the MVPs are revealed on Thursday.

Vogt led Cleveland to a second straight AL Central title in his second year in charge. The 41-year-old played in the big leagues for 10 years, then retired after the 2022 season. He had a one-year stint as Seattle’s bullpen coach and was hired by the Guardians in November 2023.

Cleveland trailed Detroit by 15 1/2 games in early July and by 11 games in early September before storming back to clinch the division title on the final day of the season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the largest in-season comeback in Major League Baseball history.

The Guardians also became the fourth big league team to reach the playoffs despite having a losing streak of at least 10 games during the regular season, joining the 2017 Dodgers, 1982 Braves and 1951 New York Giants. Vogt’s club dropped 10 in a row from June 26 to July 6.

“The messaging was, we can’t control yesterday, and we can’t control tomorrow,” Vogt said. “We have to lean in on today. We have to win the game today and then we’ll worry about tomorrow tomorrow. I think that was really a mantra that we all kind of owned.”

Cleveland went on its big September run after closer Emmanuel Clase and starting pitcher Luis Ortiz were placed on non-disciplinary paid leave as part of an MLB investigation into sports betting.

Asked what he will remember when he looks back on this season, Vogt pointed to the resilience of the team.

“It’s one thing to make a comeback and play well down the stretch and fall short, but we were able to come back and win the division and get in the playoffs,” he said.

Murphy directed Milwaukee to a major league-best 97-65 record this year, setting a franchise record for wins. The Brewers were second in the NL Central in early July before overtaking the Chicago Cubs with a remarkable 29-4 stretch that included a 14-game win streak, another franchise record.

Milwaukee eliminated Chicago in a memorable Division Series before it was swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS. The five-game victory over the rival Cubs was the Brewers’ first postseason series win since sweeping Colorado in a 2018 NLDS.

“We had the right who,” Murphy said. “We had guys that are aware and hungry, and that makes the manager look good at the end of the day.”

Murphy was Milwaukee’s bench coach for eight seasons before he was promoted after Craig Counsell left for the Cubs in November 2023. The Brewers also won the NL Central in Murphy’s first season in charge, finishing with a 93-69 record.

Murphy had a long coaching career at the college level before serving as a special assistant with the San Diego Padres for the 2010 season. He went 42-54 as interim manager of the Padres in 2015.