Reds Terry Francona has finished runner-up for Manager of the Year – Redleg Nation

The Baseball Writers Association of America votes have been in since the end of the regular season, but Tuesday night the votes became public and it was a big win for Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy in the National League Manager of the Year race. But it was Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona who finished second by a wide margin.

Pat Murphy is now 2-for-2 in winning the award in his career. Francona, who has won the award three times in the American League, was in his first season with the Reds in 2025. He received two first-place votes, nine second-place votes and 12 third-place votes.

Cincinnati finished 83-79 under Terry Francona in 2025, which was good enough to tie for the 6th-best record in the National League this past season. Thanks to a tiebreak, it was also good enough to qualify as the competition’s final wildcard team. The Reds lost two games to no one in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

During the season, Francona picked up his 2,000th career win in his 24th season as manager. It is always 2033-1751. It was his 18th winning season as a manager, and his 18th winning season in the last twenty. He didn’t have a winning season in four years with Philadelphia until his career. He returned as manager in 2004, this time in Boston, and did not have another losing season with Cleveland until 2021. He was below the .500 mark in two of his last three years there, retiring after the 2023 season due to some health issues. After a year away, he opted to return and was hired by the Reds.

Among the 30 voters for the award, Alanis Thames of the Associated Press (Miami) and Justin Guerriero of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review placed Francona first on their ballots. Of the nine votes he would ultimately receive for second place, two came from Cincinnati voters with Gary Schatz and Jason Williams of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

There were also a few writers who didn’t have Francona on their ballot. For the Manager of the Year Award, each voter chooses a top three. Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com, Jack Etkin (freelance), Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic, Jose Negron of DK Pittsburgh Sports, John Maffei of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle and Savannah McCann of Baseball America all left Francona off their ballots.