John Schneider: Number Two in the Voting, Number One in Our Hearts

[Mike LeSage]

In speaking with reporters at the Winter Meetings last week, including Diamond Centric's own John Bonnes, Blue Jays manager John Schneider was asked about the Manager of the Year award. He offered a very typical Schneider response (quoted below) that was equal parts self-deprecating, boastful of his team, and reflective of his players and position. It’s the kind of answer you would expect from him and a perfect response from a PR perspective. It would be wildly out of character for him to come out and say, ‘Y’know what? I did deserve that award, and I was screwed by the BBWAA!’

That’s where I come in. John Schneider deserved that reward and was screwed by those who voted on it!

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Q: You're a player- and team-first guy, but getting recognized as Manager of the Year, does that mean anything to you?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, it does. Again, I think it's such a weird award. I was kind of looking back at previous winners, these guys all got fired soon after there. You know what I mean? Maybe second is good.

(Laughter.)

It's a weird award. It is a direct reflection of your team. And I am very fortunate to have awesome players and awesome people. And I'm the one that sits here and talks, so I'm the one that gets recognized. I said, win, lose, or draw, I was the manager of the team of the year in my opinion. That would have been an awesome honor.

I don't think it's something you can deflect, and I think Steve is an unbelievable manager. It was cool to get recognized, but to me, it was cooler to be the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. 

In 2025, Schneider made some decisions that left me scratching my head at the best of times and yelling obscenities at my TV at the worst of times. One example, the one I probably had the biggest problem with at the time, was a series of pitching decisions down the stretch that forced the Jays into a bullpen day, with the division tied and Toronto (likely) needing to win out over the final four games of the season. As was the case for most of the season, the decision broke Schneider’s way, and the Blue Jays would win the game behind Louis Varland, Eric Lauer and Yariel Rodríguez’s perfect opening six innings.

The plays often went Schneider’s way – enough so that the Jays finished as the best team in the American League. Over the course of the season, it became clear that the trust Schneider had in his players was reflected in the trust they had in him. He worked his way up through the levels of Toronto's system on the managing side, alongside many of the players that now make up his roster. In 2024, the Jays finished 20 games back of the division lead; in 2025, they won 20 more games than the year before. That kind of improvement is the type of thing that often swings voters when deciding on the Manager of the Year. Of course, much like in the playoffs, Schneider fell just short.

Stephen Vogt is, by all accounts, a very good manager, and I can’t say that I watched enough Cleveland Guardians games to be fluent in his play-to-play decision-making, but I can certainly go through the kind of things that have been brought up as reasons to swing a vote his way rather than Schneider’s.

The comeback: Vogt’s Guardians made the biggest comeback in the modern era, erasing a 15.5-game deficit from early July and an 11-game deficit in September alone. A historic comeback, no doubt, but Vogt wasn’t a mid-season replacement – he was the manager that led them to that deficit too. If you want to give him credit for the comeback, he’s gotta wear the blame for having them in that position. Cleveland went 20-7 in September, but if Detroit doesn’t have an equally (un)impressive collapse (7-17), putting up the worst record in the majors outside of Colorado, the comeback doesn’t happen. The Jays, meanwhile, don’t have an impressive comeback to point to. All they did was lead their division from the start of July through to the end of the season.

Overcoming adversity: Vogt lost Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz in July amid a gambling scandal. Losing your closer and a starter unexpectedly is always going to be tough. But, managing gaps in your lineups from a player(s) absence is part of the game and the manager's job. Giving Vogt extra credit for the scandalous nature of two of those absences is disingenuous. Again, as with the comeback, Vogt was the manager when the scandal was happening, and, if we want to be hyperbolic, he allowed it to happen. If we look at it as purely a loss of players, the Jays had 21 players miss time to injury through the season, and the Guardians only had 16. Advantage Schneider.

Payroll: The Jays had the fifth-highest payroll in the majors, while Vogt made do with the 25th-ranked payroll. On the face of it, this one seems more skewed in Cleveland’s favour. Historically, the Manager of the Year has gone to a team with a payroll outside of the top third of the league. To a degree, that makes sense. The less money a team has to spend, the more impact the manager needs to have (in theory). Of course, the disparity also has a lot to do with where the teams play; the AL East and Central are in different financial divisions. The East was home to the third (NYY), fifth (TOR) and 12th (BOS) highest payrolls in the league last season. The highest payroll in the Central, meanwhile (the Tigers’ $179M, 17th overall), would’ve ranked fifth in the East, ahead of only the stadium-less Tampa Bay Rays. Holding the Jays' payroll against Schneider while ignoring divisional competition is a cop out.

The MotY is typically awarded to the skipper of the team that most outperformed its pre-season projections. Steering a Jays team that finished 20 games back of the division in 2024 and had the best record in the AL in 2025, you'd think Schneider would be a shoo-in for the award on this criterion. Both the Jays and Guardians were projected to be bubble playoff teams in the AL. MLB.com had us in the fourth tier of playoff hopefuls in their season primer. The Guardians were in the fifth tier. Regular season award votes are cast before the playoffs, so the Jays' run to the World Series vs. the Guardians’ Wild Card appearance doesn’t skew things, but ‘overcoming the odds’ means different things between the two divisions.

We’re over 1,000 words in at this point, and this is where I’d normally wrap up with something like “The voters may have gotten this wrong, but everyone in Toronto can agree we’ve got the best manager in the league.”

Not everyone in Toronto does agree, however, and one of those people in particular had an impact on the outcome. The AL MotY voting panel is made up of two writers representing the city (or state) of each team in the league. Both Cleveland voters had Vogt first. Schneider also had to settle for down-ballot votes from the Boston, New York and Tampa Bay writers. One Tampa ballot left Schneider off completely – rivalries run deep.

Vogt, by contrast, split votes among writers from Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota and Chicago (both Chicago voters had Dan Wilson first and split Vogt/Schneider in the second and third spots). Toronto Sun writer Rob Longley had Schneider #1, Vogt #2. The other Toronto writer was Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star. She went with Vogt. DiManno’s co-worker at the Star, Mike Wilner, talked about the vote on his Deep Left Field podcast. While DiManno declined to appear and discuss her vote, she did share with Wilner her reasoning.

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DiManno via Wilner:

I don’t think John Schneider had a meaningful positive impact on the team. Mostly he made egregious decisions with his pitching staff that cost them games. Also, this was the happiest clubhouse team I’ve ever been around. I don’t see where that had anything to do with Schneider – they created this atmosphere themselves. Meanwhile, Vogt had to contend with a gambling suspension of two players and what must surely have been a distressed clubhouse. Yet they went on a month-long heater, and well, I don’t have to tell you what they accomplished.

Further, I think there are a lot of people in Toronto media, whether they had a vote or not, who are Blue Jays suckups. I’m not a homer, I’m not a cheerleader. I’m a reporter who has covered the Jays since 1985.

We’ve already covered what I think about the gambling suspensions and the Guardians' comeback. John Schneider didn’t lose the award by one vote, so it’s a bit of a moot point, but to say that he didn’t have anything to do with the positive atmosphere in the Jays' clubhouse seems insane to me. Even if he only contributed by seeing a good thing happening and staying out of the way (something previous managers may have struggled with), he deserves credit for that. He said it himself: Award or not, John Schneider managed the team of the year.

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[Laker 22]

I agree Schneider should have won the managers award. If look at all the MLB awards you have to wonder if the people who voted watched any games at all. Or just voted for their home team. I do not know what the answer is but some sports writers should be removed from the voters list. 

Laker

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, Laker 22 said:

I agree Schneider should have won the managers award. If look at all the MLB awards you have to wonder if the people who voted watched any games at all. Or just voted for their home team. I do not know what the answer is but some sports writers should be removed from the voters list. 

Laker

Welcome to Jays Centre!

[Spanky__99]

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Further, I think there are a lot of people in Toronto media, whether they had a vote or not, who are Blue Jays suckups. I’m not a homer, I’m not a cheerleader. I’m a reporter who has covered the Jays since 1985.

No Rosie you're a 🦤🖕

I can't bring my self to read the verbal diarrhea she writes.

[Spanky__99]

Cheers @Mike LeSage good read.