Arguing that John Schneider deserved AL Manager of the Year

Runner-up to Stephen Vogt the Jays skipper did enough in tough AL East

Manager of the Year is the one official MLB award in which voters aren’t guided by analytics, or other fancy breakdowns. The manager’s award is not one dictated by WAR as much as it is by observing how a team handles its Pyrrhic Victories.

For BBWAA voters, it’s a gut feeling of which skipper did the best job, a subjective look at wins and losses using expectations from the previous year’s performance, the popular spring training outlook and other factors. The format is two voters from each city in your own league and all opinions and arguments are legit. I did not have a vote this year, but here is my opinion on why John Schneider should have won.

The Blue Jays manager did finishe second to Guardians skipper Stephen Vogt, with Mariners’ dugout boss, Dan Wilson, finishing third, in results announced Tuesday on the MLB Network. Ballots must be submitted by the final day of the regular season, so the Blue Jays and their dramatic run to the World Series had zero effect.

In summary, the NL Manager balloting was captured by Pat Murphy (Brewers), followed by Terry Francona (Reds) and Rob Thomson (Phillies). Combining the two leagues, based on 60 ballots that were distributed with room for a 1-2-3 vote, exclusively the league that you cover, 10 managers received at least one third-place vote. The MLB managerial list of six finalists and four also-rans included: Craig Counsell (Cubs); Mike Shildt (Padres), A.J. Hinch (Tigers) and Alex Cora (Red Sox).

What is notable about that list is that all 10 skippers with a vote led their team to the post-season. The only exceptions with no votes among the 12 playoff teams were the two field bosses from the 2024 World Series, Dave Roberts (Dodgers) and Aaron Boone (Yankees). That demonstrates how simplistic are the criteria for manager-of-the-year voting. The thinking? Since Roberts and Boone each went to the Fall Classic the year before, they must have just plugged in the machine and let her rip. Hey, it’s not that easy. Here are some reasonable arguments for Schneider over repeat winner Vogt.

1-Tougher Division: The AL East was captured in 2025 by the Blue Jays with 94 wins, owning the head-to-head tiebreaker with the also-94-win Yankees. It was far tougher than the AL Central. The East, as a five-team division, combined to finish 48 games above .500 while Cleveland’s Central was a cumulative 40 games below break-even.

Yes, the Guardians roared down the stretch to overcome a 15.5 game deficit to pass the Tigers, but Detroit’s collapse was epic. And even with the great finish, Cleveland finished with 88 wins to the Blue Jays total of 94. Vogt’s team won 92 the year before.

Schneider’s Jays gained 20 wins over 2024 and posted six more W’s than the Guardians. The Jays had 15 more come-from-behind wins and six fewer come-from-ahead losses than the Guardians. All this despite the fact the Jays had to go to the bullpen 39 additional times, with a bullpen ERA more than a half run higher.

2-Bullpens: While, yes, Vogt’s star closer, Emmanuel Clase was suspended mid-season in a gambling scandal, but Canadian reliever Cade Smith filled in admirably, throwing far more first-pitch strikes than his predecessor and posting a 1.005 WHIP, with 16 saves in 76 games. Meanwhile, Schneider discovered over 162 games that no matter how smart you are in drawing up a pre-game bullpen battle-plan, it just takes one man having a bad day to convert it to a house of cards in a hurricane.

Consider that in the regular season, Jeff Hoffman, good, but not elite, most of the time, in his worst nine games allowed a lofty 26 earned runs in 5.2 innings. Brendon Little in his poorest nine outings, gave up 17 earned runs in 4.0 innings. The unpredictable Yariel Rodriguez in his awfullest ocho, surrendered 16 earned runs in 6.0 IP. This trio’s contra-performances came mostly in high leverage, so it’s a miracle the Jays even won 94. Of course, these are the Schneider games that social media remembers and celebrates when suggesting the manager is an idiot. It’s every fanbase.

3-Clubhouse Chemistry: Much was made of the closeness of the 26 players in the Blue Jays clubhouse and how every player on the roster cheered for the guy at the plate or in the field, knowing that at some point there was a good chance he might play a role.

The Jays game plan surrounding its 13-player personnel on most nights was simple. If the team was trailing in late innings in a close game, there was a good chance that a better bat would pinch-hit to create a platoon advantage, or even as a same side hitter who was a bigger offensive threat. Stay ready.

On the other hand, if the Jays were ahead, from the seventh inning on, there was a very good chance the better defenders would finish the game in the field … and there was a lot of that as the season unfolded. It was predictable. The message? Stay ready.

Evidence that the Jays identity was to keep everyone involved? Numbers show the Blue Jays led the AL in game appearances by position players. The combined total was 1,752 games distributed among 24 different position players for the year. The Guardians, for their part, ranked fifth in the AL in games played by position players.

4-Empty Awards Week: The small haul of Jays post-season awards, or even the remarkably low order of finish, by any Toronto player, would also seem to support the argument for John Schneider as manager-of-the-year. No individual Gold Gloves. No team Gold Glove even though metrics suggest they were far better at run prevention than the winning Rangers, or, in fact any other MLB team. Only one Silver Slugger, that to DH George Springer … who, by the way, was then ignored as comeback-player-of-the-year in favour of Rangers Jacob deGrom.

In results of the three official BBWAA voted awards for individual players, rookie, Cy Young and MVP, the Jays received just one vote in rookie, Braydon Fisher, good for one point, 10^th in the AL and 19^th overall. The Jays staff received zero votes for Cy in a five name, times 30 ballots vote. For the MVP Award, Springer finished 11^th with 125 points, while Vlad Guerrero Jr. was 13^th (14 pts.) and Bo Bichette was 16^th (5 pts.).

Just within the AL East, the Jays’ immediate competition over 162 games, the Yankees boasted Aaron Judge with MVP, also with significant other votes over the three awards days, for Cody Bellinger, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon and Will Warren. Boston, with 89 wins, received individual voting support for Garrett Crochet, both Cy and MVP, Roman Anthony, Carlos Narvaez and Aroldis Chapman.

The Jays, by the end of awards week, had settled for a Silver Slugger and one bizarre new award from MLB Network. Guerrero Jr. earned the questionable nod as Entertainer of the Year. He should not accept it or else give the Russell Crowe speech from Gladiator, “Are you not entertained?” If the emerging superstar continues on his same trajectory, when he retires the bio-pic could then be called “Vladiator”.

The bottom line is there is a strong argument to be made for John Schneider as correct choice for AL Manager-of-the-Year. But, the real bottom line is that the argument, no matter how logical, is totally unimportant for Jays fans still wrestling with the IKF play at the plate in the ninth that left them centimetres away from a World Series title – which basically is all that really matters.

Is Kyle Tucker on a plane to Toronto yet?