The odds for John Schneider look pretty good as the American League Manager of the Year Award gets announced on Tuesday night.
The American League Manager of the Year Award gets announced on Tuesday night and the case looks good for Toronto Blue Jays skipper John Schneider, who is one of three finalists.
He's going up against Stephen Vogt of the Cleveland Guardians and Dan Wilson of the Seattle Mariners. It should be noted that the award is given out based upon the regular season, and the Jays trip to the World Series has no bearing on the award chances.
The awards will be unveiled at 7 p.m. ET.
About Schneider's case
Well, first and foremost, Schneider engineered a worst-to-first turnaround, which should help curry up some favor among voters. The 2024 Blue Jays won 74 games and finished in last place in the American League East, while the 2025 version won the division with 94 wins, outlasting the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
About Vogt's case
The Guardians won the American League Central for the second consecutive season and they overcame a historic deficit of 15.5 games to run down the Detroit Tigers. If you like a good story mixed with some history, Vogt has a compelling argument. He also won the award in 2024 when the Guardians won the division with Vogt as a first-year manager.
About Wilson's case
The Mariners finished only one game out of the playoffs in 2024 so Wilson didn't have as far to climb, but he still helped the M's win the American League West for the first time since 2001. He's also the first rookie manager in team history to make the playoffs. He eventually led the Mariners to the American League Championship Series, but we know how that ended...
What ESPN's Buster Olney is saying
Olney was a guest on our sister Mariners' site's 'Refuse to Lose' podcast, and he was asked specifically about Wilson's chances to win the award:
Now with a manager award, which I think is the strangest award always because it always comes down to a team success versus what the expectations were. And so, based on that history of how they choose these awards, John Schneider, of the Blue Jays, you would assume has an excellent chance to win it.
And by the way, you know this, but it's worth reaffirming for your listeners, that they turn in those awards the day after the regular season so the Blue Jays World Series (appearance) will have no bearing on who wins. So I think based on what we thought was going to happen before the year started and what did happen, John Schneider, he had a really compelling case, where on the other hand, I thought the expectations for the Mariners coming in to the year was they had an excellent chance to make the World Series.
You can listen the rest of that podcast, in which the World Series as a whole was talked about, in the player below:
ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney on Skubal Trade Rumors + Naylor Predictions + Award Season
Refuse to Lose - a Seattle Mariners Podcast · Episode
RELATED BLUE JAYS STORIES
BO's MINDSET: Blue Jays broadcaster Dan Shulman recently joined the MLB Network to speculate on how the World Series loss may factor into Bo Bichette's mindset moving forward. CLICK HERE:
NESN REPORTER BELIEVES BLUE JAYS CHAMPIONSHIP WINDOW IS JUST OPENING: In a recent episode of the Refuse to Lose podcast, Tom Caron said he thinks this year is the beginning of a new era for the Blue Jays. CLICK HERE
DON MATTINGLY SAYS GOODBYE: After two seasons as the team's bench coach, Mattingly is walking away from Toronto. CLICK HERE:
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Remember to join our BLUE JAYS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Blue Jays fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!