Guardians' Vogt, Brewers' Murphy honored as top managers - ESPN

The Milwaukee Brewers' Pat Murphy and Cleveland Guardians' Stephen Vogt were named Managers of the Year on Tuesday after leading their teams to the playoffs in their first full seasons managing.

A longtime college coach, Murphy took over in Milwaukee after Craig Counsell left to manage the rival Chicago Cubs. Under Murphy, the Brewers went 93-69 and finished 10 games ahead of the Cubs in the National League Central division, the largest gap between first- and second-place teams in the 2024 Major League Baseball season.

The 40-year-old Vogt, who played for Milwaukee in 2017 when Murphy was the team's bench coach, steered Cleveland to a 92-69 record and first-place finish in the American League Central. The Guardians made it to the AL Championship Series before losing to the New York Yankees.

Only once before had two managers in their first full seasons won Manager of the Year, according to the Elias Sports Bureau: 2019, when Minnesota's Rocco Baldelli won in his rookie season and St. Louis' Mike Shildt was in his first full year after taking over midseason in 2018. Murphy spent 96 games as interim manager for San Diego in 2015, while Vogt never had managed prior to this year after retiring from playing in 2022.

Voting for American League manager of the year, as selected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (tabulated on a 5-3-1 basis):

Despite injuries to starters Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie that left the Guardians short-handed for most of the season, Vogt managed Cleveland's bullpen brilliantly, with its 2.57 ERA more than half a run better than the next-best team. The Guardians improved by 16 games over the previous season and won Vogt's first playoff series against Detroit until the Yankees dismissed