TORONTO -- After leading the Blue Jays to Game 7 of the World Series, where they fell just short to the Dodgers, manager John Schneider is being recognized as one of the game’s best.
Schneider is a finalist for the AL Manager of the Year Award, which will be announced during a special on MLB Network on Tuesday, Nov. 11, beginning at 7 p.m. ET. Stephen Vogt of the Guardians and Dan Wilson of the Mariners have also been named finalists.
Although voting on these awards was completed prior to the postseason, Schneider is fresh off leading this organization to its first World Series appearance since 1993, with the Blue Jays coming as close as a team possibly could without ultimately lifting the trophy. Throughout that run, Schneider and his Blue Jays dealt with the challenge of playing without star shortstop Bo Bichette in the American League Division Series and AL Championship Series, along with injuries to Anthony Santander and George Springer.
Schneider’s regular season was just as impressive, though. The Blue Jays won the AL East for the first time since 2015, holding off the Yankees down the stretch, and entered the postseason with the best record in the league.
This season was built on pleasant surprises and unexpected success stories, starting right at the top of the lineup with a renaissance from Springer. Role players Ernie Clement and Addison Barger grew into much more than that, with Clement setting the all-time MLB record for hits in a postseason with 30, and the Blue Jays finally grew into an offensive identity that worked for them.
The Blue Jays also developed the type of clubhouse culture that teams enter each spring chasing, the perfect mix of veterans and young players all coming together to play a team-focused brand of baseball. This, as much as anything that happened on the field, was why the Blue Jays’ Game 7 loss was so crushing.
Schneider has always been quick to deflect the credit for that movement to the players themselves and his coaching staff, but many of his players have been quick to point that praise right back at their manager.
“He’s awesome. He has our back. He’s everything you want in a man leading the charge,” said Clement. “He’s done a hell of a job. We would not be here without him. He takes the blame when things don’t go right, but he doesn’t get nearly enough credit when things do go right. He’s been awesome. We’re lucky to have him.”
Schneider is a shining example of development in a manager, something too few are given the patience or opportunity to do. Since taking over from Charlie Montoyo on an interim basis in July 2022, Schneider has grown into the job by embracing what got him to this point as a longtime manager in the Minor Leagues.
Earlier in Schneider’s tenure, he admitted that he felt a bit tighter in this role, being careful to say the right things at the right times to please everyone. Lately, he’s “letting it rip,” as he likes to say, and with his full personality on display, he’s become a great modern manager, just as capable of managing a clubhouse as he is juggling the constant media responsibilities that flood his day. This has been an adjustment. We’re now seeing a version of Schneider who is not just embracing these moments but thriving in them.
“I forget sometimes, man … I view myself as this 45-year-old dude who loves his wife and loves his kids and enjoys drinking beer when he’s home. I’m just a dude,” Schneider said before the season. “You forget that people view you otherwise because your job’s on TV. When we’re playing bad, it sucks. There’s a whole lot of Uber Eats. When it’s good, it’s really good.”
Schneider is a Blue Jays lifer. Drafted by this organization back in 2002, he played parts of six seasons as a catcher in the Minor Leagues before he moved into managing. For years he was this organization’s “manager of the future.” Now it’s clear that the Blue Jays have found their man, and the rest of baseball is catching on, too.