November has already been unkind to Toronto Blue Jays fans, and All-Star shortstop Bo Bichette hadn’t even signed anywhere at publication. Things were bad enough when the Blue Jays blew a 3-2 World Series lead to the Los Angeles Dodgers, losing Games 6 and 7 at home and extending a 32-year title drought.
Now, their recent stretch of bad luck has extended to skipper John Schneider, who finished second to Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt in AL Manager of the Year voting. Schneider earned 91 points to Vogt’s 113 and placed first on 10 of 30 ballots. However, Vogt received 17 first-place votes after leading the Guardians to an improbable AL Central title in which they overcame a 10-game deficit with less than a month to play.
Social media quickly erupted on Tuesday night, with some proclaiming that Schneider was “robbed” of the award. The Blue Jays went 94-68 and held off the New York Yankees to win their first AL East crown since 2015. Although Toronto reached its first World Series since 1993, Manager of the Year voting — and all other major MLB awards — only factor in regular-season numbers.
“The Jays had a 76.5 preseason win total and won 94 games,” read one X/Twitter post. “Preseason majority assumed a last-place finish like they did the year before. Just terrible. Makes no sense.”
Added another: “He was robbed. If you watched any baseball this year, John should have won.”
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Did Stephen Vogt deserve to win AL Manager of the Year over John Schneider?
The overall AL Manager of the Year voting results are curious. The Tigers’ AJ Hinch earned a second-place vote and three first-place votes despite the team’s historic collapse; Detroit lost 17 of 24 in September and nearly missed the playoffs entirely. Houston’s Joe Espada received a second-place vote, and the Astros missed the postseason via a tiebreaker for the AL’s third and final Wild Card spot. It’s also worth noting that Espada didn’t even place third on any other ballots.
A common argument when baseball fans are determining their Manager of the Year pick often involves a team’s budget. The Blue Jays’ $255 million payroll placed fifth in baseball, while the Guardians’ $100 million ranked 25th. In theory, that means that Vogt did more with less, though such discussions often ignore injuries and greater context.
Toronto took command of the AL East on July 3 and held first for nearly three months before falling into a tie on Sept. 24. Meanwhile, the Guardians were 68-69 on Sept. 2 but went on to win 20 of their final 25 games. Should managers be rewarded based on how they fared in the season’s final month? And while the Jays did have far more resources at their disposal, hardly anyone expected them to even make the postseason at all, suggesting that the money hadn't been particularly well-spent.
Elsewhere, Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy won NL Manager of the Year, and the Brewers went 12-12 in September. Murphy, though, earned 27 of 30 first-place votes and finished with 141 points to Cincinnati manager Terry Francona’s 49. Although Milwaukee’s 97 wins led baseball, the Blue Jays earned the American League’s top seed with 94 victories.
Blue Jays and Guardians fans definitely have valid arguments about why Schneider or Vogt should have won. Personally, we think that the voters got it right in picking Vogt. Cleveland took full advantage of Detroit’s dismal September — we’re still not sure how Hinch got a second-place vote — to win the AL Central. The Guardians never waved the white flag, and that’s a major credit to the culture that Vogt has created in Cleveland.