As the great Yogi Berra once said, it’s déjà vu all over again. The two MLB Manager of the Year awards for 2025 went to the same recipients as in 2024. Stephen Vogt of the Cleveland Guardians won the American League award, and Pat Murphy of the Milwaukee Brewers took home the hardware in the National League. The announcements came in on Tuesday evening on MLB Network.
Stephen Vogt, Pat Murphy Repeat as Manager of the Year Winners
A Miraculous Comeback
Vogt worked a miracle in his second season leading the Guardians after reaching the ALCS in 2024. This year, things were looking dire for Cleveland in the AL Central by the middle of summer, as the Detroit Tigers held what looked like an insurmountable division lead. At its widest, the gap was 15 1/2 games between Detroit and Cleveland from July 6 – 8. In fact, the Guardians weren’t even the Tigers’ closest competition at that point. After the action on July 8, the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals each trailed the Tigers by 14 games, leaving Cleveland stuck in fourth place at 42-48.
Give it up for the Man(ager) of the Year.
Stephen Vogt goes back-to-back in his first two seasons as a Big League Skipper.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/WdWHy1RvmG
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) November 12, 2025
But from that point forward, the Guardians found their groove while the Tigers went off the rails. The rest of the regular season, the Guardians went 46-26 while the Tigers went 28-41. Cleveland finished with 88 wins, and the Tigers, who had an awful September, finished one game back. Facing off in two key September series, the Guardians took five of six games against their division rivals. It was the largest deficit overcome to win a division in major league history. The success was short-lived, however, as they had to face the Tigers again in the Wild Card Series. While Cleveland had home-field advantage, Detroit outlasted them in three games to advance to the Division Series. Still, their incredible comeback made Vogt more than deserving of the award again.
Regular Season Dominance
The Brewers were coming off a strong 2024 campaign that ended in a crushing loss to the New York Mets in the Wild Card Series. Hoping to go further this year, they did not come charging out of the gate, hovering near or slightly below .500 until June. Then, under Murphy’s steady hand, they went on a tear the rest of the way, finishing with the best record in the majors at 97-65. This was buoyed by a 14-game winning streak to start August. Milwaukee was riding high going into October, and the Brew Crew won a hard-fought NL Division Series against the division rival Chicago Cubs that went the full five games, with the home team winning all five.
He’s going BACK TO BACK
Congrats to Pat Murphy on his second straight NL Manager of the Year Award pic.twitter.com/qn7flRyBzd
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) November 12, 2025
Unfortunately for Murphy and the Crew, they ran into a buzzsaw in the NLCS. The defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers rode their strong pitching to a four-game sweep. Despite the postseason disappointment, Murphy’s first two regular seasons in Milwaukee could not have gone much better. While his win this year is a bit more of a surprise than Vogt’s (one could make a strong case for Terry Francona after he surprisingly led the Cincinnati Reds to a wild card spot in his first season), it remains a well-deserved honor.
Stay Tuned
MLB Awards Week continues with the presentation of the Cy Young Awards on Wednesday at 7 pm ET and the MVP Awards on Thursday at 7 pm ET. MLB Network will have the coverage on both.
Main Photo Credit: G Fiume/Getty Images
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