Guardians skipper Stephen Vogt has been named AL Manager of the Year for the second straight season after leading Cleveland to a historic division-winning comeback.
CLEVELAND — Replacing a future Hall of Famer in Terry Francona was always going to be a tall task, especially for someone who had never managed before at any level.
But Stephen Vogt has proven he is more than up to the task, and following a historic finish to the 2025 season, the Guardians‘ skipper made some history of his own on Tuesday.
For the second consecutive year, Vogt has been named AL Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, becoming just the fourth person to win the award in back-to-back seasons. Unlike 2024, this year’s balloting was somewhat close, but Vogt still took 17 of 30 first-place votes and finished 22 points clear of second-place finisher John Schneider of the pennant-winning Toronto Blue Jays (ballots are cast before the playoffs begin).
Ever humble, Vogt gave credit to the entire organization upon accepting the accolade.
“I feel super honored,” he told the media Tuesday night. “It’s a really cool honor for our organization and a nod to the work that our team did.”
After taking over for Francona, Vogt burst on the scene in 2024 as Cleveland won 92 games and ran away with the AL Central Division, eventually making it to the AL Championship Series before falling to the New York Yankees. Expectations were high coming into 2025, but few expected Vogt to reclaim his Manager of the Year title — especially after how things transpired into the summer.
Following a 10-game losing streak, the Guards found themselves 15 1/2 games behind the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central, with a lineup that was ranking among the worst the franchise had ever seen. Even after the team began to regroup, they were hit with a pair of bombshells when pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase were placed on leave amid suspicions of ties to gambling.
Even with the world seemingly crumbling around him, Vogt maintained his cool composure, even in the face of those of us who may have wanted to see him flip over a table or two. Through it all, he continued to express faith in his players, and their trust in him never wavered as a result.
“I know how hard it was to show up every day, at times, positive and to keep pushing and to keep that smile on your face,” Vogt said of the ups and downs of 2025. “It’s a choice every single day that you make when you show up to work — if you want to be in a good mood or a bad mood. It’s up to you, and our entire group showed up in a good mood believing we were going to win, even in the midst of some rough stretches.”
By September, the strategy was paying off in a way no one thought possible.
In a storyline that seemed reminiscent of “Major League,” the Guardians finished the season on a 20-5 tear, snagging a playoff spot and stealing the division crown from the Tigers on the last day of the campaign. Their comeback from 15 1/2 back to first place set a new MLB record for the largest deficit overcome in a season, and even after falling to Detroit in the AL Wild Card Series, Vogt and his squad assured they will never be forgotten in the annals of Cleveland baseball lore.
“It really speaks to the group of players in there, because they’re the ones that drive it,” he said in praise of his bunch. “We have to find out what they believe they are and then we go in and we reinforce those things. So all the credit in this goes to the players.”
Even after making the postseason for the eighth time in 13 years, Vogt knows the job isn’t done, acknowledging that the Guards will have to improve if they want to win their first World Series in 78 years. The adversity also won’t be going away any time soon, especially with Clase and Ortiz now facing criminal charges for alleged pitch-rigging in relation to the gambling scandal.
“Like we’ve talked about all year with this, the process is going to go (forward). We’re going to cooperate with MLB and authorities and we’re going to find out what it ends up being,” Vogt said when asked about Clase and Ortiz being indicted. “But again, (I) just want to speak to the resilience of our group for not batting an eye at it and continuing to work and power through.”
Vogt becomes just the fourth man in big league history to win back-to-back Manager of the Year awards, the others being Hall of Famer Bobby Cox (Atlanta Braves, 2004-05), current Tampa Bay Rays skipper Kevin Cash (2020-21), and Pat Murphy of the Milwaukee Brewers — who nabbed his second straight NL Manager of the Year trophy minutes before Vogt was announced as the AL recipient.
This is also Cleveland’s sixth Manager of the Year award as a franchise: Eric Wedge previously took home the honor in 2007, followed by Francona three times in his 11 seasons with the club. Ironically, Francona finished second behind Murphy in this year’s NL balloting while in his new role leading the Cincinnati Reds.
Along with Vogt, Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan also earned his fourth straight AL Gold Glove Award earlier this month, while third baseman José RamÃrez picked up his sixth career Silver Slugger. RamÃrez is also a finalist for AL MVP, the winner of which will be announced Thursday.