Ranking All 30 MLB Managers Heading Into the 2026 Season

While assessing managers isn’t an exact science, we can compare resumes and give credit where credit is due.

Reds manager Terry Francona won two World Series titles with the Red Sox in 2004 and ’07. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Being a modern manager can be a thankless position. They often shoulder the blame for strategic decisions that were made by a collective long before the moment arises. And much of the praise for success goes to players or even front-office roster builders before the skipper comes up.

As my colleague Stephanie Apstein wrote in Monday’s fantastic Digital Cover: “The manager might be the most important job in the organization. And we’re still not entirely sure what makes someone good at it.” Much of what we think we know comes from a manager’s record, or how much he improves (or declines) from his predecessor. They can also improve their reputation by making inspired choices in pressure situations or adopting innovative strategies. 

We will likely never be able to calculate how much of a difference a manager makes as accurately as we can with players. But we can assess their resumes as they stand and give credit where credit is due.

1. Dave Roberts, Dodgers 

It’d be insulting to rank anyone above the man who’s won three World Series titles in the last six years, especially after Roberts’s master class in bullpen management this past postseason.

2. Terry Francona, Reds 

That this two-time World Series champion and Red Sox legend was lured out of retirement to manage a then-middling franchise still boggles the mind more than a year later. Getting the Reds back to the playoffs for the first time in five years during his debut season in Cincinnati was a grand first impression. 

3. Kevin Cash, Rays 

MLB’s longest-tenured manager is 112 games above .500 and has five playoff appearances and a pennant during his 11-year run in Tampa Bay despite regularly operating with a shoe-string payroll. He’s also proven himself to be an innovator with the Rays, adopting ideas such as the opener that get copied elsewhere across the sport.

4. Alex Cora, Red Sox 

Since winning the World Series in his first season managing the Red Sox, Boston has made the playoffs just twice in Cora’s following six seasons at the helm. Cora’s one-year suspension for his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal is a stain on his resume. But his management is widely respected, and he is one of just four active MLB managers with a World Series title.

Hinch has led the Tigers to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, ending a nine-year drought for the franchise. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

5. Tigers, A.J. Hinch

Hinch has yet to win a division title during his five years in Detroit, and his 2017 World Series win will always be stained by the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. But he proved his worth by artfully utilizing “pitching chaos” amid Detroit’s late-season surge to the playoffs in '24. The Tigers’ late-season collapse in ’25 wasn’t so pretty, but Hinch nevertheless navigated them to the ALDS again, and the arrow is pointing up for a franchise that had neared rock bottom before his hiring.

6. Pat Murphy, Brewers 

Murphy ranks ahead of his predecessor Craig Counsell, who was lured away to the rival Cubs, after leading Milwaukee to a franchise-record 97 wins in 2025. No one has done more with less while winning back-to-back National League Manager of the Year awards during his first two years managing the Brewers.

7. Stephen Vogt, Guardians 

Vogt has won Manager of the Year in both of his seasons with the Guardians while leading them to a pair of division titles and an ALCS appearance despite Cleveland ranking 21st and 24th in payroll in 2024 and ’25, respectively.

8. Craig Counsell, Cubs 

Counsell’s Cubbies have finished behind his old team in Milwaukee in both of his first two seasons in Chicago. If that happens yet again in 2026, the man the Cubs made the highest-paid manager upon his hiring may start to feel some heat. But his stellar resume from his time with the Brewers keeps him this high.

9. John Schneider, Blue Jays 

Now in his fifth year in Toronto, manager John Schneider came into his own in 2025 while leading the Jays to the World Series despite having entered the season as a lame duck. His newfound willingness to trust his gut more often played a big part in Toronto’s first pennant in 32 years.

10. Aaron Boone, Yankees 

Yankees fans are running out of patience with Boone, who is 200 games over .500 through nine seasons but is by three years the longest-tenured manager in franchise history without a World Series title. Still, his ability to deftly handle both the egos of a superstar-driven clubhouse and the New York media has earned the trust of his bosses.

11. Rob Thomson, Phillies 

Thomson led Philadelphia to the Fall Classic after being hired in the middle of the 2022 season, but his tenure has delivered diminishing returns in the playoffs ever since.

12. Dan Wilson, Mariners 

This ranking may be too low—after all, Wilson’s first full season in the dugout resulted in Seattle coming closer to a pennant than it ever had before. I’d like to see a strong follow-up season before moving the former catcher up higher, though.

13. Torey Lovullo, Diamondbacks 

Lovullo deserves credit for engineering a 24-win turnaround in his first year with the D-Backs en route to earning the 2017 NL Manager of the Year award, and of course, for Arizona’s Cinderella run to the '23 World Series, but those two years featured his only playoff appearances in nine seasons.

14. Skip Schumaker, Rangers 

Schumaker is taking over for the retired Bruce Bochy on a team that’s scaled back its spending. He has big shoes to fill, though the 2023 NL MOTY did lead the Marlins to the playoffs in his first season as a manager. The former utilityman will have more talent to work with in Texas.

After a surprise run to the NLCS in 2024, the Mets suffered a late-season collapse to miss the playoffs in '25. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

15. Carlos Mendoza, Mets 

Mendoza survived the Mets’ late-season collapse but was heavily criticized over his bullpen usage by one of his former players, reliever Adam Ottavino, who is respected enough in the game to have spoken with the Rockies about their president of baseball operations job this offseason. Getting New York to the NLCS in 2024 was a pleasant surprise, but the pressure is on Mendoza entering the final guaranteed year of his contract.

16. Oliver Marmol, Cardinals 

Marmol’s reputation is complicated. He did lead St. Louis to a division title in 2022 as the youngest manager in the league upon his hiring. But the Cardinals then finished in last place for the first time in 33 years, and haven’t returned to the playoffs since. Marmol earned a two-year extension through 2029 in March, so the Cards are seemingly comfortable with the 39-year-old overseeing the team’s rebuild.

17. Matt Quatraro, Royals 

After his debut season in the dugout produced Kansas City’s joint-worst winning percentage (.346, 56–106) in franchise history, the Royals improved by 30 games in 2024 and won their first playoff series in nine years. A minor step back last season didn’t do much to diminish his standing, as he signed a three-year extension through 2029 in March.

18. Clayton McCullough, Marlins 

Miami punched above its weight last season in McCullough’s first season, winning 79 games to nearly finish at .500 despite carrying MLB’s lowest payroll.

19. Joe Espada, Astros 

Dusty Baker was always going to be a tough act to follow, but it’s difficult not to lay some fault at Espada’s feet for Houston missing the playoffs last year for the first time since 2016, and posting their two worst full-season records over the same span. He was also outcoached by ex-Astros manager A.J. Hinch in an upset loss to the Tigers in the '24 wild-card round. All that said, Espada learned the ropes under a pair of fantastic managers, and he at least has playoff experience under his belt.

20. Walt Weiss, Braves 

Weiss was Atlanta’s bench coach for eight years before being promoted this offseason following Brian Snitker’s retirement. He previously served as the Rockies’ skipper between 2013–16, posting a 283–365 record in MLB’s toughest managerial job. The 62-year-old turned down an opportunity to interview with the Marlins in '22, perhaps with the knowledge he’d one day succeed Snitker in better circumstances.

21. Mark Kotsay, Athletics 

Kotsay endured the very lean years of the Athletics’ rebuild before posting a career-best 76–86 record last year while working with a bottom-five payroll. It’s hard to definitively say much about his managerial acumen since the A’s were executing an obvious tank job in his first few seasons to shamefully close their Oakland chapter. We should find out more this season as the team’s young roster continues to mature.

22. Don Kelly, Pirates 

After serving as Pittsburgh’s bench coach for more than five seasons, Kelly was elevated to the manager’s seat once Derek Shelton was fired last May. He went on to post a 59–65 record (.476 win percentage) after the Pirates had started 12–26 (.316) under Shelton. The former utilityman signed an extension the day after last season ended.

23. Will Venable, White Sox 

The White Sox integrated a ton of fresh faces last season in an attempt to move on from the worst season in MLB history. Venable probably did about as well as he could, improving Chicago’s fortunes by 19 wins, but it’s hard to give too much praise to a manager whose lone season resulted in 102 losses.

Vitello had a highly successful eight-year run as the head coach at Tennessee, but has never coached nor played in MLB before. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

24. Tony Vitello, Giants 

Vitello’s ascension from the college ranks is one of the league’s more interesting storylines heading into the season. We’ll give the 47-year-old some credit over his fellow rookie managers (and some others) for leading Tennessee to its first ever College World Series title in 2024, as well as additional CWS appearances in ’21 and ’23. We’ll soon find out if the Giants made an inspired decision or Vitello’s total lack of major league experience shows. 

25. Warren Schaeffer, Rockies

Schaeffer’s record with the Rockies last season as an interim manager (36–86, .295 winning percentage) was an improvement on how they’d played under Bud Black to that point, though there was really nowhere to go but up after Colorado started 7–33 (.175) en route to a franchise-worst 43–119 record. The 40-year-old’s interim tag was removed several weeks after last season ended after he showed enough to new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta to retain his position.

26. Derek Shelton, Twins 

Shelton topped out at 76–86 in his final two full seasons with the Pirates before he was fired last May once Pittsburgh got out to a poor start. The 55-year-old had a tough job amid Pittsburgh’s seemingly never-ending rebuild, but it was also a bit surprising to see him hired again so quickly after not showing much to write home about over nearly six years with the Buccos.

27. Blake Butera, Nationals

Butera won a pair of championships and Manager of the Year awards earlier this decade as a 20-something skipper in the Carolina League. He then worked in the Rays’ front office for a couple of years before being hired this offseason by the Nationals, making the 33-year-old the youngest MLB manager since 1972 (Frank Quilici, Twins).

28. Craig Albernaz, Orioles

Albernaz, 43, has a bit of minor-league management experience as the former skipper of the Hudson Valley Renegades (Short Season A) and Bowling Green Hot Rods (High A), with whom he earned the 2018 Midwest League Manager of the Year award. He went on to serve as Stephen Vogt’s associate manager in Cleveland before his hiring by Baltimore this offseason. Expectations will be high early on.

29–30. Craig Stammen, Padres; Kurt Suzuki, Angels 

A couple of 42-year-old former players who are moving down from their respective team’s front office to the dugout despite a complete lack of managerial experience. We wish them luck.

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