CHICAGO -- When Will Venable was named the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s 2026 American League Manager of the Year Tuesday night, the White Sox leader shared the honor with the entire organization.
From chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to general manager Chris Getz to Venable’s coaches to the players, they all received plaudits from the man being recognized in just his second year on the job. Venable’s humble reaction is not a surprise.
Getting him to throw a true compliment in his own direction is somewhat akin to getting Venable to announce his starting pitchers six or seven days in advance. Venable received the well-deserved top vote amount, but it takes a village to build this startling and entertaining turnaround in his educated estimation.
“There’s a lot of people involved in making us better. A lot of good people. So, I view this award as recognition and a recognition of our progress. I’m proud of my own participation in that,” said Venable during a post-award Zoom Tuesday night. “I’m one small part of an incredible effort to get better with a lot of really good people who are working really hard to make it happen.
“I do view this very much as an organizational award. And I think about it especially in our case because we are such a collaborative group.”
Venable finished with 111 points, edging out Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash, who finished with 98. Venable received 15 first-place votes, 11 second and three third, being named on all but one of the 30 ballots.
Being honored with the BBWAA award made Venable the sixth White Sox winner in this category and first since Ozzie Guillén’s World Series championship year in ‘05. Other White Sox winners are Jerry Manuel (2000), Gene Lamont (1993), Jeff Torborg (1990) and Tony La Russa (1983).
The White Sox are now tied with Cleveland for the most Manager of the Year Award winners.
All three ‘26 AL finalists presented a strong case for the top managerial honor. Cash led the AL’s best team to the World Series, where the Rays lost in five games to the Brewers, and Chad Tracy helped turn a rough Boston season into a playoff appearance after replacing Alex Cora on April 25 as interim manager.
But Venable had the year’s most impressive résumé. The White Sox entered 2026 with three straight 100-loss seasons, including a single-season Modern Era record of 121 setbacks in ‘24. They lost 102 during Venable’s debut effort in ‘25, although they put up signs of improvement throughout a 28-37 showing after the All-Star break.
Venable’s crew started ‘26 at 1-5 during an opening road trip against the Brewers and the Marlins and lost 13 of their first 19 contests. Belief was not lost for a special performance, something White Sox players talked about at SoxFest in late January, and the White Sox ultimately finished with 84 victories.
“This group in Spring Training developed a belief in each other,” said Venable during Tuesday’s award show. “Then they went out and did it."
“I’m proud of our group, I’m proud of our front office, ownership that really supported this group to continue to get better,” added Venable during the Zoom. “That’s what we are going to do every single day.”
That jump from 60 victories in 2025 put the White Sox in the playoffs as the third AL Wild Card and sixth seed overall. They swept the Astros in two games to win their Wild Card Series, before claiming the first two games in the Division Series in Cleveland. Even three straight losses to the Guardians, signaling elimination, couldn’t ruin a tremendous White Sox turnaround with the 43-year-old Venable at the helm.
En route to the franchise’s 12th playoff appearance and first since 2021, the White Sox sat atop the AL Central for 96 days. Venable became the third MLB manager since 1901 to oversee a 19-plus-win improvement in back-to-back full seasons, joining Hall of Famers Miller Huggins of the 1925-27 New York Yankees (69 to 91 to 110) and John McGraw of the 1902-04 New York Giants (48 to 84 to 106).
Those 84 victories represented the most in MLB history by a team following three straight 100-plus-loss seasons and tied the 1974 Rangers for the most in MLB history for a team coming off back-to-back seasons with 100-plus losses. The White Sox became the first team to reach the postseason after losing 100-plus games in each of the two previous seasons.
A team identity was established by Venable in 2025, as talked about by numerous players. It was about playing hard for all 27 outs in each game, keeping the focus on the game at hand and playing for each other as much as with each other. The players took Venable’s idea and ran with it to success.
In October, Sporting News named Venable the AL Manager of the Year as voted on by his peers. He joined Guillén (2005), Manuel (2000), Torborg (1990), La Russa (1983) and Chuck Tanner (1972) as previous winners of that award.