Red Sox historic 30 game surge may cost Will Venable in Manager of the Year race

Chicago White Sox first-year manager Will Venable has played a major role in the team’s remarkable turnaround this season. The White Sox have spent 57 days in first place and currently hold a 3.5-game lead in the American League Central. They also sit alone as the No. 2 seed in the American League playoff picture, with the three teams ahead of them record wise all coming from the AL East, meaning the non-division winners would be Wild Card teams if the playoffs started today.

One of the teams currently ahead of Chicago in the standings is the Boston Red Sox, who have been one of baseball’s hottest teams over the past month. Boston recently went on a historic 27-3 run, winning nine consecutive series while putting together winning streaks of 15 and nine games. Before this surge, they were 10 games under .500, but now they sit at 64-53, having just had their streak of series wins snapped after surprisingly dropping a weekend series to the Athletics.

The turnaround is even more impressive considering Boston fired manager Alex Cora after a 10-17 start and replaced him with Triple-A manager Chad Tracy. Despite stepping into a difficult situation, Tracy has done an excellent job helping turn the season around, and his work may have now pushed him ahead of Venable in the Manager of the Year race.

Will Venable and Chad Tracy headline tight 2026 AL Manager of the Year race

The Manager of the Year award often goes to the skipper who leads his team well beyond preseason expectations. So far, Venable has done exactly that, but his work is far from finished with 45 games remaining in the regular season.

If the White Sox can maintain their position and finish the season being playoff bound, Venable’s case becomes especially compelling. Doing so as a first-year manager while helping turn around one of the losingest franchises in baseball history would give him a strong argument to take home the award.

However, not everyone may see it that way. Bob Nightengale reported in his Sunday Notebook that Venable is no longer considered the favorite, with Tracy overtaking him following Boston’s historic surge.

The biggest argument against Tracy may be that the Red Sox were expected to be competitive entering the season and are now simply playing closer to those preseason expectations. Venable, meanwhile, took over a White Sox team without nearly the same expectations and has helped lead Chicago far beyond what many anticipated.

Regardless, there is still plenty of baseball left to be played, and how each manager fairs down the stretch will factor into who wins the award.

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