Manager of the Year winners Murphy, Venable, led teams making biggest improvements

Pat Murphy of the Brewers was named 2026 NL Manager of the Year. He accepted the award after undergoing hip replacement surgery.

Managers of perennially dominant teams rarely win Manager of the Year. In practice, the award functions less as a reward for the best overall record and more as a "Most Improved Team" honor—recognizing the skipper whose squad most drastically outperformed expectations.

Historically, Box-Toppers simply picked the manager of the team that finished with the most Box-Toppers points in each league. For 2026, those choices were Aaron Boone of the Yankees (120.1) and Dave Roberts of the Dodgers (142.7).

However, measuring team improvement against preseason expectations yields results that far better reflect what voters are actually honoring.

The Baseball Writers Association of America Tuesday voted Pat Murphy of the Brewers as National League Manager of the Year and Will Venable of the White Sox as American League Manager of the Year. By Box-Toppers metrics, the Brewers were MLB's most improved team in 2026, while the White Sox ranked third.

Team rankings vs. expectations

Here is a look at how MLB teams performed in 2026 compared to preseason expectations.

The Start 2026 column shows each team’s point projection prior to Opening Day, calculated by combining the 2025 Box-Toppers point totals of players on their initial rosters. The End 2026 column shows the actual combined 2026 Box-Toppers points accumulated by players on each team’s roster at the close of the season. The Change column reflects whether a team exceeded (+) or fell short of (-) their initial projection. Teams are sorted from highest to lowest change in Box-Toppers points from the start of 2026 to the end.

  Team Start 2026 End 2026 Change
1 Brewers 88.4 137.3 +48.9
2 Rays 73.3 115.0 +41.7
3 White Sox 63.9 100.9 +37.0
4 Dodgers 107.0 142.7 +35.7
5 Pirates 78.9 103.9 +25.0
6 Guardians 90.4 112.1 +21.7
7 Nationals 57.6 79.1 +21.5
8 Cardinals 60.9 79.4 +18.5
9 Marlins 74.2 88.0 +13.8
10 Twins 85.4 99.1 +13.7
11 Phillies 110.1 117.4 +7.3
12 Braves 107.0 113.7 +6.7
13 Rangers 90.2 95.4 +5.2
14 Astros 79.2 84.2 +5.0
15 Rockies 58.0 61.1 +3.1
16 D-backs 93.6 93.1 -0.5
17 Mariners 108.1 105.2 -2.9
18 Angels 66.4 63.3 -3.1
19 Padres 109.6 104.5 -5.1
20 Yankees 128.5 120.1 -8.4
21 Blue Jays 113.6 101.4 -12.2
22 Athletics 84.7 70.7 -14.0
23 Cubs 125.8 111.2 -14.6
24 Red Sox 120.4 105.1 -15.3
25 Orioles 101.7 83.2 -18.5
26 Reds 103.8 84.2 -19.6
27 Mets 98.8 73.4 -25.4
28 Royals 105.4 77.4 -28.0
29 Giants 90.2 61.1 -29.1
30 Tigers 116.3 79.3 -37.0

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A Box-Toppers measure of 2026 team improvement

To measure team improvement, we compared preseason baseline projections against actual end-of-season totals. Preseason projections were calculated by combining the 2025 Box-Toppers point totals of players on each team’s Opening Day roster. End-of-season totals reflect the actual 2026 points accumulated by players on each roster.

The table elsewhere on this page shows all 30 teams ranked according to their team improvement—15 teams had higher combined Box-Toppers points in 2026 while 15 teams saw declines from 2025.

A Box-Toppers Look at Manager of the Year Finalists

Among the six official 2026 Manager of the Year finalists announced by the BBWAA, three led teams that generated the largest positive point turnarounds in baseball this season:

  • Pat Murphy (Brewers): +48.9 point improvement (88.4 to 137.3), the largest gain in MLB. He won NL Manager of the Year.

  • Kevin Cash (Rays): +41.7 point improvement (73.3 to 115.0), the second-largest gain in MLB and the largest in the AL. He finished second in AL Manager of the Year voting.

  • Will Venable (White Sox): +37.0 point improvement (63.9 to 100.9), leading the third-biggest turnaround overall. He won AL Manager of the Year

Here is how the other three finalists fared:

  • Walt Weiss (Braves): +6.7 point improvement (107.0 to 113.7), the 12th-largest gain. He finished second in NL voting.

  • Don Mattingly (Phillies): +7.3 point improvement (110.1 to 117.4), the 11th-largest gain. He finished third in NL voting.

  • Chad Tracy (Red Sox): -15.3 point decline (120.4 to 105.1), ranking 24th among teams with the seventh-largest decline. However, Tracy took over the team as an interim manager April 25 when the team had a 10-17 record. He led them in 77 wins as the Red Sox finished with an 87-75 record. He finished third in AL voting.

Will Venable was named 2026 AL Manager of the Year after leading the White Sox to the third-biggest improvement among all teams.

Table Highlights

Some notable highlights about this table:

  • Biggest Overachiever: The Milwaukee Brewers (+48.9 BTP) made the largest jump, surging from an 88.4 preseason projection to finish second overall with 137.3 points. The Brewers won the World Series and the team they beat in the Fall Classic, the Tampa Bay Rays, are second on this table at +41.7. The Brewers ranked 19th in preseason standings and second in final 2026 standings. The Rays ranked 25th in preseason standings and fifth in final 2026 standings.

  • Biggest Underachiever: The Detroit Tigers (-37.0 BTP) suffered the steepest decline, falling from a 116.3 preseason projection down to 79.3 points. The Tigers ranked fourth in preseason standings and 23rd in final 2026 standings.

  • Top Overall Team: The Los Angeles Dodgers led all teams in final 2026 points with 142.7, exceeding their preseason projection by 35.7 points (the fourth-biggest improvement), even though they won the World Series in 2025 as the ninth-ranked team.

IBWAA Manager of the Year voting

Box-Toppers participates in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) postseason voting. Here is how IBWAA members voted:

American League

  1. Will Venable, White Sox (121 points)

  2. Kevin Cash, Rays (78 points)

  3. Chad Tracy, Red Sox (50 points)

National League

  1. Pat Murphy, Brewers (116 points)

  2. Walt Weiss, Braves (60 points)

  3. Don Mattingly, Phillies (57 points)

IBWAA members include more than 800 baseball writers and content creators. Voting for full-season awards takes place prior to the start of the postseason each year, with selections announced in November.

About Box-Toppers

Box-Toppers tracks who contributes most to their team’s victory. Using standard box score statistics, we identify the Player of the Game for every MLB contest. In the regular season, winners earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point, with bonus points awarded to the top overall and league-specific players of the day. More on how Box-Toppers works.

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