2026 MLB Odds: Pirates’ Don Kelly Best Bet for NL Manager of Year

Roughly a quarter of the way through the MLB season, the theme so far has been parity. 

The teams expected to be among the worst — the Rockies, Nationals, Cardinals — are all feisty and fairly competitive. 

The American League only has four teams entering play on Tuesday night with a record above .500, and the current division leaders are the Rays, Guardians and Athletics. 

Those are all surprises to some degree. 

If the playoffs started today, the White Sox would be a wild-card team, despite having a losing record. Even the vaunted Dodgers have yet to exert their dominance, as they currently look up in the National League West standings to the first-place Padres. 

While the AL currently has just four teams with winning records, the National League Central has five. And within that league, I think, is a wager that offers some value. 

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Pirates Manager Don Kelly is currently +600 (bet $10 to win $70 total) to win National League Manager of the Year. 

These awards, especially when it comes to coaches or managers, are often about what the best story is, with expectations heavily factored in. 

The Pirates were a wild-card team from 2013-2015 and haven’t been to the postseason since. Remarkably, they have not won a postseason series since winning the 1979 World Series. 

The Pirates currently sit at 22-19 and look like a serious playoff contender, with NL Cy Young favorite Paul Skenes at the top of the rotation. 

Braves manager Walt Weiss and Cubs manager Craig Counsell currently have shorter odds than Kelly, but both of those managers have more talented teams with considerably higher expectations than the Pirates. 

The Cubs were division favorites entering the year, and the Braves had a down year in 2025. Prior to that, Atlanta had been a perennial playoff team and World Series contender for close to a decade. The Pirates currently have +140 odds to make the playoffs, and if they were to make it, Kelly would be the frontrunner, in my opinion, to win this award come the fall. 

Ultimately, the Pirates are in the conversation for having the least success of nearly any major sports franchise over the last few decades. A return to the postseason would not go unnoticed by the voters.

PICK: Don Kelly (+600) to win NL Manager of the Year