Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider finished second in American League Manager of the Year voting on Tuesday, narrowly missing out on the award after leading the team to Game 7 of the World Series.
It was a season for the ages for Schneider, as he turned around a last-place finish at 74-88 in 2024 to an AL East title and top seed in the American League at 94-68 this year.
That 20-game jump marked the highest year-over-year improvement in Blue Jays franchise history.
Instead the award went to the Cleveland Guardians manager Steven Vogt, who helped engineer a historic surge to the playoffs – the Guardians rallied from 10 games back with 21 games remaining on the schedule to win the AL Central over the Detroit Tigers. Seattle Mariners skipper Dan Wilson finished third.
| Manager (team) | Record | First-place votes | Second-place votes | Third-place votes | Total points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steven Vogt (Guardians) | 88-74 | 17 | 8 | 4 | 113 |
| John Schneider (Blue Jays) | 94-68 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 91 |
| Dan Wilson (Mariners) | 90-72 | 2 | 9 | 13 | 50 |
| Alex Cora (Red Sox) | 89-73 | 1 | – | 2 | 7 |
The award is voted on after the regular season without playoffs influencing the decision – and the playoffs is where Schneider and the Jays reached a new level.
From managing a bullpen game to perfection in a 5-2 victory to eliminate the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series to riding starting pitchers Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt out of the bullpen in a clinching 4-3 victory over the Mariners in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series, Schneider seemed to push the right buttons every time in leading the Jays to their most successful season since the early 1990s.
Schneider felt that this “breakout season” was coming after going through different challenges in his first two and a half seasons at the helm.
“It takes reps. It takes messing some things up. It takes having a little bit of success and it takes a lot of trust in everybody around you,” Schneider told MLB Network on Tuesday.
“You want to be so convicted in being yourself and I feel like I was that this year, not being afraid to have a tough conversation, not letting anything go by the wayside and letting it rip. If you see something, say it. You learn every single day, and the day you stop learning is the day the game passes you by.”
The Blue Jays struggled to perform in the postseason in Schneider’s first two seasons at the helm. Schneider took over midway through the 2022 season, with the Blue Jays stuck in neutral at 46-42, and the 45-year-old skipper righted the ship with a 46-28 record before the Blue Jays were swept in the Wild-Card series against the Mariners.
A year later, the Blue Jays won 89 games in the regular season but were swept out of the playoffs in the Wild-Card round again – this time by the Minnesota Twins. Schneider came under fire from media and the fans after pulling starter Jose Berrios after three strong innings in an eventual 2-0 loss.
But this year’s season showed enough to management, as Schneider’s 2026 option was picked up by the team shortly after the end of the World Series, and Blue Jays’ brass has reportedly begun discussions about a long-term contract to keep him in Toronto.
“He keeps getting better,” team president and CEO Mark Shapiro said. “That’s a pretty good sign for leaders, right? When they continue to stay open-minded, learn and get better, he’s certainly put himself among the top group of managers in the game. He led us through some tough moments this year and led us to some great moments.”
The only other manager to take home Manager of the Year honours in Blue Jays history was Bobby Cox in 1985 – the first time the Jays qualified for the postseason in franchise history.
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