When setting a date for hip replacement surgery, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy made sure to schedule it after the World Series.
What he didn’t consider was when the NL Manager of the Year would be announced.
That’s why Murphy was in a hospital bed Tuesday night recovering from surgery on his right hip when he became the first captain from any league to win the award three years in a row.
“I have nothing to do. I’m sitting here,” Murphy said at the end of a call with reporters.
The award came less than two weeks after the Brewers won their first World Series title, and one day after the manager underwent surgery in Milwaukee.
“The doctor gave me some dates and I just picked a date one day, and I had no idea it was going to coincide. I wasn’t thinking in those terms,” said Murphy, who turns 68 on Nov. 28. “I was just thinking about what we had, the task at hand. I mean, I probably picked it a month ago and obviously I knew I was going to end up in the World Series at the time, but I thought it was a safe date to do it.
Will Venable won AL Coach of the Year after his Chicago White Sox became the first major league team to reach the playoffs after 100 consecutive losing seasons. Only the third of three straight came under Venable, who took over in 2025. Chicago went 84-78 this year.
Polling by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America was conducted prior to the postseason, and the results were announced Tuesday night.
Milwaukee has won the NL Central in all three years with Murphy as manager after he spent eight seasons on Craig Counsell’s coaching staff. The Brewers led the majors this year with a franchise-record 103 wins during the regular season, then swept the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series in the playoffs and beat Tampa Bay in a five-game World Series.
Murphy survived a heart attack in August 2020 that occurred on the day of a practice in Milwaukee.
The Brewers play in Major League Baseball’s smallest market and have a payroll in the bottom half of the sport, but have had the best record in the major leagues in each of the last two seasons.
After sweeping the NLCS for their first World Series berth since the lone in 1982, Murphy celebrated by saying the Dodgers had Hall of Famers, but his team had players.
“I think it’s just a reflection of what our team has done,” Murphy said Tuesday night. “First of all it’s the players, the hungry players who are willing to live up to certain standards and have a focus and awareness to win.”
Only three other managers have won the award three times in the same organization. Bobby Cox, one of three four-time winners along with Buck Showalter and Tony La Russa, won three with the Atlanta Braves (1991, 2004 and 2005). Cox is also the only other NL hitter.
Terry Francona was a three-time winner with Cleveland (2013, 2016 and 2022), while Dusty Baker won three times with the San Francisco Giants (1993, 1997 and 2000).
Venable, a former big league outfielder, took his first managerial job when the White Sox had 121 losses in 2024, a record for most since 1900, after 101 losses last season. They went 60-102 in Venable’s debut and followed that up this season when 19 starters played and they made the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
“I’m really proud of the playoff run because it’s what the players believed from day one, you know, at a time when nobody, certainly nobody outside our walls, believed we were a playoff team,” Venable said. “There was real belief within our group of players that they were a playoff team, and beyond that, they were also willing to do the things necessary to make that a reality.”
After defeating Houston in two road games in their AL Wild Card Series, the White Sox had a 2-0 series lead before losing a five-game AL Division Series to Cleveland.
Before being hired by Chicago, Venable was on manager Bruce Bochy’s staff at Texas and was part of the Rangers’ only World Series title in 2023.
Venable, who played briefly for Murphy with the San Diego Padres in 2015, is the first White Sox manager to win the award since Ozzie Guillen in 2005.
Total votes for both awards
Murphy received 20 of the 30 first-place votes and finished with 124 points. Atlanta’s Walt Weiss finished second with seven first-place votes and 86 points, while Philadelphia’s Don Mattingly was the other NL finalist and finished third. Mattingly received one first-place vote and San Diego’s Craig Stammen received the other two.
Venable received 15 of 30 first-place votes and 111 points in the BBWAA voting. The other AL finalists were two-time shortstop Kevin Cash of the AL champion Tampa Bay Rays and Chad Tracy, who took over for the Boston Red Sox in April and led them to the playoffs.
Cash was the runner-up with 12 first-place votes and 98 points. Tracy received three first place votes and 47 points.
AL and NL Cy Young Award winners and Relievers of the Year will be announced Wednesday. The MVP winners will be revealed on Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
