With the 2026 Major League Baseball regular season well into its final month, most of our attention is on the various and sundry playoff races. Nothing wrong with that, but let's set aside some headspace for the unemployment line -- how long it will be and who will populate it. We speak, of course, of MLB managers and which of these dugout leaders may be in peril depending upon how September and even the postseason play out.
If you enjoy and appreciate being one of just 30 MLB managers presently occupying the planet, then it's not a list you want to be on. Now, beleaguered skippers of baseball, assume the position and brandish your résumés. We'll proceed in alphabetical order and won't be including Mets interim Andy Green, who's already said he'll return to a front-office role at the end of the season.
Onward … Baltimore's problem is Mike Elias and his ongoing inability to build a contending roster, but Albernaz is at risk in his first season on the job. The O's made a managerial change after last season in order to improve their chances of a rebound campaign in 2026. That hasn't really happened in terms of wins and losses, although they're still very much in the hunt for the final playoff spot on the American League side.
If they miss out on the postseason and finish below .500, will Albernaz take the fall after only one year? Probably not, but it's possible. This is something of an annual exercise with Boone, and the expectation is that he's safe.
That's especially the case given that he's under contract through 2027. That said, Boone has been on the job since the start of the 2018 season, and he has yet to hoist the World Series trophy. The Yankees are all but a lock to return to the playoffs, but ceding the division title to the Rays plus a first-round washout in October could lead to some Boone speculation.
The Astros are not good, but they do lead the AL West. As for their roster deficiencies, it's hard to pin much of it on Espada, who's helped the team punch above its expected weight for most of his tenure. GM Dana Brown is now former GM Dana Brown, and owner Jim Crane appears increasingly confident in his ability to know better than actual baseball people within the organization.
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