2025 NL East Positional Rankings: Manager

The National League East is considered by many to be the best division in Major League Baseball, so naturally the ranking of each team’s manager is a competitive one.

With three of the top five teams in terms of odds to win the 2025 World Series, you have championship-ready squads with championship-ready skippers at the helm, and that doesn’t even include one of the managers who has a World Series ring of his own. Here are our rankings of the managers in the NL East.

No. 5 Clayton McCullough, MIA

Without a doubt, the easiest person to rank on this list is Clayton McCullough. McCullough is set to manage his first game in the majors for Miami, replacing Skip Schumaker, who finished a tumultuous run with the Marlins. Schumaker won the N.L. Manager of the Year Award in his first season in 2023, leading the Marlins to the playoffs for the first time in a full season in 20 years. But when Kim Ng was not subsequently brought back as the team’s GM, the writing was on the wall for Schumaker. The former big leaguer left the team for a personal matter late in the 2024 season, and soon after it was announced that he wouldn’t be brought back.

McCullough spent the last 10 seasons in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Starting in 2021, he began coaching first base for LA, and had the job through the team’s World Series title this past October. Before joining the Dodgers, McCullough spent nine seasons in the Blue Jays organization, including seven seasons as a Minor League Manager.

McCullough may prove to be a quality manager, bringing some of that Dodger culture to South Beach, but with no Major League games on his record and a stacked field in this category, he can only be put at the rear.

No. 4 Dave Martinez, WSH

It’s a tough break to have a World Series win on your resume and only be ranked fourth in your division as manager. But that is another example of just how much quality there is in this division. For Dave Martinez, it’s time to start winning to get himself higher on this list.

Martinez was brought in as manager in 2018, with the Nationals in the middle of a contention window, hoping he would be the final piece to put them over the top. After a disappointing year and changes to his roster, rumors of his firing came about after the Nationals started 19-31. Mets fans may remember that both Martinez and their manager at the time Mickey Callaway were both dealing with pink slip prognostications. Soon after, both teams turned it around to different degrees. The Mets ended up winning 86 games, coming up just short of the postseason. Callaway was soon fired. Martinez finished the complete 180 and raised the Commissioner’s Trophy that season.

With an aging roster, the Nationals quickly transitioned, trading a bunch of their best players. Juan Soto netted the Nationals prized prospects CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore, among others. Max Scherzer and Trea Turner were traded for a package of prospects that have not so far seen that same level of success.

With that bushel of young players infused in the system, Washington expected an expedited rebuild but has yet to complete the turn back to competitiveness. The Nationals won 71 games last season, and have the 25th-best World Series odds in 2025. It’s time for Martinez to get the most out of his young squad, and begin competing for a playoff spot. He checks in at the No. 4 spot.

No. 3 Carlos Mendoza, NYM

The Mets skipper had his rookie year in 2024 and passed his first test with flying colors. An NL Manager of the Year finalist, Carlos Mendoza won 89 games and a Wild Card spot on the final day of the regular season. He then went head to head with the manager who would go on to win the award, Pat Murphy, and his division rival, Rob Thomson of the Phillies. Mendoza’s Mets won both series and took the Dodgers to six games in the NLCS.

Mendoza deserves the most praise for his ability to deal with adversity early on in his team’s season. The Mets infamously started 0-5, were 11 games under .500 in June, and had a reliever fling his glove into the stands amidst a brutal run of games. Under the leadership of Mendoza and President of Baseball Operations David Stearns, the Mets released Jorge López in what was a fork-in-the-road moment. New York then turned it around, was the best team in baseball from that point on, and completed an unbelievable ride into late October.

Mendoza is a third of the triumvirate that includes Stearns and owner Steve Cohen that Met fans point to as a unique example of hopeful longstanding stability for the franchise. If everything goes as planned for New York, number 64 will become a staple in the manager’s office for years to come. He comes in at the No.3 spot.

No. 2 Rob Thomson, PHI

Speaking of fork-in-the-road moments, the Phillies faced theirs in June 2022, after starting 22-29. They fired manager Joe Girardi and turned to veteran bench coach Rob Thomson, who had previously expressed to the team that he wouldn’t return after the year concluded.

Given a chance to manage a big league team for the first time at age 58, Thomson has led the Phillies to nothing but October baseball ever since. The Phillies flipped the script in 2022 all the way to a National League Pennant. While their record got better each of the last two seasons, including the team’s first division title in 13 years in 2024, they have fallen short a round earlier each of those years. After losing a 3-2 NLCS lead to the Diamondbacks in 2023 and losing the NLDS to the Mets this past year, Thomson is looking to take his veteran-laden squad back to the mountaintop.

The Phillies traded for Jesús Luzardo to help fortify their rotation this offseason but mostly stayed pat offensively. Thomson is hoping that is enough to compete at a championship level. He ranks as the No. 2 manager in the division.

No. 1 Brian Snitker, ATL

If you’re looking for both World Series hardware and sustained success, look no further than Brian Snitker and the Atlanta Braves.

Snitker also got his first chance later than most, after being given the manager job in 2016 at age 60. The Braves were a rebuilding team, and there was a chance Snitker would be replaced when the team was ready to win. Instead, once 2018 came to pass, the Braves began a run of six consecutive N.L. East titles, which included a World Series run in 2021. Atlanta won 100+ games in back-to-back seasons, which included a historically good lineup in 2023.

The Braves were tortured with injuries in 2024, but that might have been Snitker’s best work to date. The veteran baseball man helped piece together a team that also won its 89th game on the last day of the regular season to clinch a seventh straight trip to the postseason.

The Braves hope to have a healthy 2025 and are heading into the season as division favorites. Snitker enters the year No. 1 manager in the division.

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