Will Venable named AL Manager of the Year after leading Chicago White Sox from 102 losses to the playoffs

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LAS VEGAS — Chicago White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas sees manager Will Venable as a role model.

“I’ve been having great conversations with him during these past two years, and he’s helped me so much,” Vargas said during the American League Division Series. “The impact he (has), not just on the field but in my life, has been unbelievable.”

Those connections were part of the formula for success for the 2026 Sox. And why Venable was named AL Manager of the Year on Tuesday.

Venable finished with 111 points, including 15 of the 30 first-place votes. Kevin Cash of the Tampa Bay Rays placed second with 98 points (12 first-place votes). Chad Tracy of the Boston Red Sox was third with 47 points (three first-place votes).

Venable joined Ozzie Guillén (2005), Jerry Manuel (2000), Jeff Torborg (1990) and Tony La Russa (1983) as Sox managers to earn the Baseball Writers’ Association of America award, which was established in 1983.

In his second season, Venable guided the Sox to an 84-78 record and their first playoff berth since 2021. The 84 wins were the most in major-league history by a team coming off three straight 100-loss seasons.

“There’s a lot of incredible stories this year,” Venable said in late September. “We could really go down the list and the contribution of everybody on this team and how they went about it. The openness to do different things, play in different roles, and at the same time keep the environment positive. It was just incredible.

“Extremely proud of the group and feel very lucky to have experienced this because they made it fun to come to work every day.”

According to STATS, the Sox joined the 2024 Kansas City Royals, 2020 Miami Marlins and 2017 Minnesota Twins as the only teams to reach the playoffs the season after losing 100 games.

“He’s a voice to be heard and he says what he needs to say when there’s something that we need to address,” starting pitcher Sean Burke said during the AL wild-card series. “But, honestly, one of his best traits is he lets us be a lot and he lets us be ourselves. He lets the clubhouse identity try to form itself. He’s not really trying to push us one direction or force the team to have some identity or personality.

“From his perspective, I don’t think he ever needs to step in and be like, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do this,’ or, ‘We’re trending too far in this direction with how we’re being or how we’re playing.’ Just keeping us in line and keeping our goals and our mindset on the main thing, and then at the same time letting us be ourselves.”

The Sox led the AL in runs (776) and walks (589) and ranked third in home runs (211), OPS (.726) and slugging percentage (.406), with Venable often mixing and matching the lineups to produce the most favorable outcome.

There were also plenty of moves on the mound, where the Sox relied heavily on a bullpen that led the majors with 766 innings pitched — the most in franchise history.

The Sox were in contention for the AL Central title all the way to the final series, finishing one game behind the Cleveland Guardians.

It was the second straight season the Sox improved by at least 19 games, going from 41 wins in 2024 to 60 during Venable’s first year in 2025 and then to 84 in 2026.

According to STATS, he’s just the third major-league manager since 1901 to improve by 19-plus wins in back-to-back seasons (excluding COVID- and strike-shortened 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).

“We’ve got a really special manager in Will Venable that recognizes the power of the clubhouse,” general manager Chris Getz said last month. “Is he evidence-based, objectively led? He is, but he’s got a tremendous feel for people, and his communication style and his consistency allowed our clubhouse to really grow in the way that it did.”