CHICAGO -- Will Venable was named the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s 2026 American League Manager of the Year in his second season with the White Sox. Those results were announced by Larry Bowa on Tuesday night on MLB Network, with Kevin Cash of the Rays and Boston’s Chad Tracy completing the AL trio of finalists.
All three individuals 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 Tracy helped turn a rough Boston season into a playoff appearance after replacing Alex Cora on April 25 as interim manager.
But Venable might just have 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 2025, although they put up signs of improvement throughout a 28-37 showing after the All-Star break.
Venable’s crew started 2026 at 1-5 during an opening road trip to 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,” Venable said during Tuesday’s award show. “Then they went out and did it.”
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.
Sporting News named Venable the AL Manager of the Year as voted on by his peers. He joined Ozzie Guillén (2005), Jerry Manuel (2000), Jeff Torborg (1990), Tony La Russa (1983) and Chuck Tanner (1972) as previous winners of this award.
Being honored with the BBWAA award made Venable the sixth White Sox winner in this category and first since Guillén’s World Series championship year in '05. Other White Sox winners are Manuel (2000), Gene Lamont (1993), Torborg (1990) and La Russa (1983).