In his 11-season tenure in Cleveland, Terry Francona set a franchise managerial wins record, won an American League pennant and four division titles and made six postseason appearances. And in his nine-season tenure in Milwaukee, Craig Counsell also set a franchise managerial wins record, won three division titles and made five postseason appearances.

So last offseason, when Francona went into what turned out to be an extremely brief retirement and Counsell left the Brewers for the division-rival Cubs, they both left a big spot to fill on the bench.

What better way to fill those holes than with the 2024 Managers of the Year?

The Guardians’ Stephen Vogt and the Brewers’ Pat Murphy took on tall tasks in their first full seasons as big league skippers and overcame big challenges to win their respective Central crowns. So they were unsurprising recipients of the Baseball Writers’ Association Manager of the Year honors in results announced Tuesday night on MLB Network.

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“It just speaks to the organizations, first of all,” said Vogt, whose MLB playing career just wrapped up in 2022. “Those are two great organizations we get to work for. But we’re also baseball people. For me, I needed to come in and be myself. I knew I’d never replace Tito and fill his shoes, but I just wanted to be me and help our players be the best they can be.”

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With 27 out of 30 first-place votes, Vogt beat out the two other AL Central managers who led their clubs to the postseason – the Royals’ Matt Quatraro (second place with two first-place votes) and the Tigers’ A.J. Hinch (third place with one first-place vote).

The NL winner Murphy also received 27 first-place votes, while the Padres’ Mike Shildt finished second with one first-place vote and 19 second-place votes and the Mets’ Carlos Mendoza finished third with one first-place vote and six second-place votes.

“When this all happened,” Murphy said of replacing Counsell, “I was just very grateful. I’m just grateful to go to work every day and show up and try to impact somebody.”

Vogt and Murphy are now the 13th and 14th winners of Manager of the Year in their first full seasons in the role, and they are the second pair of winners who were both in their first full-time managing jobs after Rocco Baldelli and Shildt in 2019.

But it was also a study in contrasts, as Vogt only turned 40 this month and had never been a skipper at any level prior to this year, whereas Murphy is about to turn 66 and has now managed at just about every level of baseball there is. In fact, Vogt cites Murphy as one of his mentors, having played for the Brewers in 2017 when Murphy was still bench coach.

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You could call Murphy a “rookie” skipper, but that’s true only if you disallow all that Murphy had learned and earned in a longtime head coaching/managerial turn in the collegiate ranks, in the Minor Leagues, with the Padres as an interim skipper for more than half a season in 2015 and even with the Dutch national team.

Murphy had been a leader of many men, including his protégé-turned-boss Counsell, who played for “Murph” at Notre Dame then wound up employing him as his bench coach in Milwaukee. When Counsell left his hometown team, Murphy took over a club expected to take a big step back in the standings due to the trade of Corbin Burnes and an injury to Brandon Woodruff that had robbed the Brew Crew of its greatest strength. A Spring Training injury to closer Devin Williams only stacked the odds higher against Murphy’s team.

“The guys wouldn’t take that,” Murphy said. “They didn’t care what anybody thought. They were going to go do their thing, and they did it their way and they were hungry.”

The Brewers ran away with their second straight NL Central title with a 93-win season. It took a total team effort that included 17 different starters, 12 different pitchers earning a save and young players up and down the roster – none younger than 20-year-old top prospect Jackson Chourio, who struggled for two months but had Murphy’s trust and wound up finishing third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.

That the Brewers reached the playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons was a testament to their organizational strength and also the wily, wise “rookie” at the helm.

“I didn’t plan on this,” Murphy said. “It wasn’t my path. But then when I got with Counse, I was supposed to be mentoring him but he did a great job mentoring me. I learned so much about the big league game.”

Because Counsell had somehow never earned this honor in his Milwaukee tenure, Murphy is the Brewers’ first Manager of the Year. This had been the only organization in MLB without such a win. Murphy is also just the 10th person to win Manager of the Year despite having never played in MLB himself.

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Vogt had played. Quite recently. The two-time All-Star catcher hung ‘em up in 2022, worked as bullpen coach for the 2023 season and then took on manager duties. This is the fastest any skipper has gone from player to Manager of the Year (the Marlins’ Joe Girardi won in 2006 after finishing his playing career in 2003).

“I just got done playing myself,” said Vogt, “so I knew what it felt like to be going through struggles, and I knew what it felt like to be going through good times.”

Though all three of the AL Central managers who guided their clubs to the 2024 postseason were worthy in their own way (as evidenced by them all finishing as finalists), Vogt won out not just because his Guardians finished on top of the Central but because of the compelling narrative it took to get there.

Vogt took over a team that had the third-youngest roster in MLB and had sagged to a 76-86 record in 2023. His Guards were tested early and often in their rotation, which lost staff ace Shane Bieber to an elbow issue that required Tommy John surgery after just two starts, had two other key starters (Triston McKenzie and Logan Allen) demoted to Triple-A in the first half and never really clicked into gear. Vogt expertly deployed a bullpen that was also injury ravaged and loaded with untested youth beyond closer (and AL Cy Young Award finalist) Emmanuel Clase and turned it into a bona fide strength, with by far the best relief ERA in MLB. He also made the most of a short bench by consistently pushing the right pinch-hit buttons.

And though it didn’t factor into the voting that took place at the conclusion of the regular season, Vogt’s team wound up just three wins shy of the World Series.

At 39 years, 334 days old on the final day of the regular season, Vogt is the fifth-youngest Manager of the Year winner.

“The players did this,” he said. “If the players don’t do what they’re capable of, this wouldn’t be possible.”