Being an MLB manager can be a thankless job. When a team does well, the credit is given to the players and general manager before the manager. When a team struggles, the manager often gets the finger pointed in their direction first, even when, if we're being honest, they don't control all that much.
Nowadays, many teams involve their GM when discussing day-to-day lineup and pitching decisions. Sure, the manager has to deploy individuals in the right spots and is responsible for keeping the clubhouse together, but that's about it. When a team devoid of talent struggles to win games, why is that the manager's fault?
Whether it's fair or not, win-loss record does fall squarely into the fate of managers' job security. If a team underperforms, any given manager instantly gets placed onto the hot seat. If a team overperforms, the manager gets some credit for that. With that in mind, these three managers have likely saved their jobs and their reputations among MLB fans by helping their teams over-perform.
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3) Don Kelly, Pittsburgh Pirates
Admittedly, there were reasons to be high on Don Kelly's ability as a manager, but in most cases, interim managers don't ever stand much of a chance when hired. Last season we saw Grady Sizemore go 13-32 with the Chicago White Sox, an underwhelming record, but his .282 winning percentage was far better than the .239 win percentage of his predecessor, Pedro Grifol, yet, he was replaced in the offseason.
In Kelly's case with the Pittsburgh Pirates, though, there's absolutely no reason why the interim tag hasn't even been removed. The Pirates, a team many thought could take a bit of a step forward this season, went 12-26 to begin the 2025 campaign, leading to Derek Shelton's firing. When Kelly took was named his replacement, I had little reason to believe that he'd last beyond this season mainly due to the lack of talent on this roster. Why was it Shelton's fault that a team this bad, particularly offensively, had struggled to win games?
Well, the Pirates have gone 45-49 under Kelly in 94 games. Obviously, the Pirates don't want to be a sub-.500 club, but Kelly has led them to impressive series wins against teams likely headed to the postseason like the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays, and they've greatly outperformed their talent level.
In normal circumstances I'd argue managers don't have much of an impact, but it's clear that the Pirates have played much better under Kelly. There's no reason to expect he won't be back in 2026, and deservingly so.
2) Oli Marmol, St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals had arguably the most underwhelming offseason in the sport. They spent the entire winter shopping Nolan Arenado, a player with a no-trade clause that nobody seemed to want, failed to move him, and let Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Andrew Kittredge and Paul Goldschmidt walk while only signing Phil Maton.
Despite essentially running back a lesser version of a roster that finished only four games over .500 last season, the Cardinals hovered around .500 for much of the first half and were somewhat in the postseason race by the trade deadline. in spite of that, John Mozeliak traded away three of the team's best relievers - Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton and Steven Matz, at the deadline. Understandably, St. Louis has struggled a bit since the deadline, but even now, they're just two games under .500 and sit 5.5 games back of the NL's third Wild Card spot.
They've been somewhat competitive despite the front office showing no intention to win now. In fact, if you remove the Cardinals' 5-15 record in games Erick Fedde starts, they're sitting at 60-57 and are right in the thick of the Wild Card race.
I get that it'd be fun for Cardinals fans to see a legend like Albert Pujols or Yadier Molina run the show, and I get that finishing with a sub-.500 record in two of the last three years is far from ideal, but from watching the games it feels as if Marmol has grown as a manager, and I'd argue that the team has over-performed. He deserves to stick around.
1) John Schneider, Toronto Blue Jays
You knew he'd be here. It felt as if every Toronto Blue Jays fan was calling for John Schneider's firing after the 2024 campaign, and it's hard to blame them. The team has postseason expectations entering the year, but finished the season going 74-88, good for last place in the AL East and the eighth-worst record in all of baseball. This team even got off to a bit of an uneven start, going 25-27 in their first 52 games, causing fans to call for Schneider to take the blame for that. Well, it's safe to say things have changed for the better this season.
Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro wound up nailing the offseason for the most part, and players like Bo Bichette and Alejandro Kirk have bounced back, leading to the Jays playing like one of the best teams in baseball. At 77-55, the Jays lead the AL East by 5.0 games and have the third-best record in all of baseball.
A lot of their turnaround has to do with things Schneider can't control, but he's also pushed many buttons perfectly. Adjusting their lineup to have Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bichette hit third and fourth in their order has worked perfectly, and the platoons he's deployed, particularly in the outfield, have flourished.
A down year felt like the end of the line for the entire Atkins regime, including Schneider, but this magical season has almost certainly saved everyone's jobs, and for good reason.