Managers take a lot of heat over the course of a season, but there's little doubt that a good skipper can be the difference between success and failure for a club. So which of them had the biggest impact in 2026?

The six guys nominated for the 2026 Manager of the Year Award are a particularly interesting bunch with little in common other than their trips to the postseason. (Awards voting, we should note, is conducted at the end of the regular season.) Five of the six candidates did not appear among the finalists for the award in 2025, and two weren't even at the helm with their respective teams on Opening Day.

Here's a look at the finalists for the Manager of the Year Award, before the winner is announced tonight starting at 7 p.m. ET on MLB Network and MLB+.

AL finalists

Kevin Cash, Rays

After missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, Tampa Bay was widely picked and projected to finish fifth in the AL East this year. On Opening Day, FanGraphs projected the Rays to finish 79-83 with a roughly 25.2% chance to reach the postseason and a 4.3% chance to win the division.

They finished 98-64, won the AL East by 4 1/2 games and earned the top spot in the league’s postseason field.

Chad Tracy, Red Sox

What a pressurized situation Tracy was put into. On April 25, he was going about his job managing the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox. Shortly after that game, he received a phone call from Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to pack his bags and hustle to Baltimore. He was named interim manager after the surprising dismissal of Alex Cora. Instead of being panicky or nervous, Tracy created instant calm and helped the Red Sox turn their season around in stunning fashion. It took a while. On June 25, the Sox went to the ballpark with a 32-46 record, and had the worst winning percentage (.410) in the American League. Starting that day, the Sox caught fire, going on a 32-5 run that vaulted the club back into the postseason picture.

Will Venable, White Sox

From 2023-2025, the White Sox lost 100-plus games every season. They dropped a Modern Era record of 121 in 2024. For four straight seasons, the White Sox were not truly a playoff contender.

Then came the exciting and highly successful 2026 campaign, with 84 wins, the sixth seed and third Wild Card in the American League playoffs and the organization’s first postseason series victory since the ‘05 World Series run.

NL finalists

Don Mattingly, Phillies

The Phillies were in a bad place on April 26. They lost a Sunday afternoon game to the Braves in Atlanta to fall to 9-19. The night before, they snapped a 10-game losing streak. It was early, but it was bleak. So, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski fired Rob Thomson on April 28 and replaced him with Mattingly. The Phillies had the fourth-best record in baseball the rest of the season, capturing the third NL Wild Card on the final day of the season.

Pat Murphy, Brewers

Murphy was the first Brewers manager to win this award after leading Milwaukee to a division title in 2024 in his first year as skipper. Then he led the Brewers to a franchise-record and Major League-leading 97 victories in 2025 and won again, making him one of only four managers to win in consecutive years. Now he's coming off yet another franchise record 103 wins. Nobody has ever won the award three years in a row.

Walt Weiss, Braves

As Weiss navigated his way through his first season as Atlanta’s skipper, he proved that he had his players’ backs in more ways than one. The 62-year-old manager’s successful season was first highlighted on April 7, when he tackled Angels designated hitter Jorge Soler during a benches-clearing brawl. Atlanta’s players responded with a 20-6 stretch that enabled them to claim early command of the NL East and never really look back.