Which Active Managers Can Join Terry Francona With Historic 2,000 Wins?

“The one thing you just die for is a chance to win. To have a chance to win and to be expected to win is what you play for, what you coach for.”

That’s what now Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona — who at that point had not won much of anything — said upon being hired by the Boston Red Sox in December 2003. Given his career since, it’s difficult to believe that there was ever a time when Francona was dying for that kind of chance as he won his 2,000th game on Sunday with the Reds’ 4-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

It was his second stint as a manager, the first after a four-year run with the Philadelphia Phillies that never saw the team win more than 77 games, and Francona was briefly pushed into other roles — a special assistant to baseball operations in Cleveland, then bench coach for the Athletics. Without another job waiting for him, it’s difficult to believe that even Francona foresaw just how many chances he’d have to win his future — or how often he’d seize those opportunities.

In addition to the two World Series championships with the Red Sox — including 2004’s drought-snapping title — Francona is now the 13th-ever manager to win 2,000 games in MLB history. As a reminder of just how long MLB history is, the first and second managers to achieve the feat — John McGraw and Connie Mack, respectively — began their careers in the dugout in 1899 and 1894 — two and seven years before “modern” MLB existed. In all those years, just 13 managers have reached the threshold Francona just did. A fact that becomes all the more impressive when you attempt to figure out who could be next.

Francona is second among active managers in wins, with the Texas Rangers skipper Bruce Bochy ranked sixth all-time with 2,219. Buck Showalter, 69, is 19th all-time, with 1,727 victories. Bob Melvin, 63 and manager of the San Francisco Giants, is 21st and at 1,648; envisioning him as the 14th manager to reach 2,000 wins isn’t a stretch at all, unless he decides to retire in the next few years. After that, however, it’s all guesswork.

Former Rockies skipper Bud Black is the closest manager behind Melvin among those who’ve managed a game in 2025, but he’s already 68 and at just 1,193 wins. He also serves as the end of the line for his generation of managers. So, if there’s another 2,000-win manager waiting in the wings beyond Melvin, they are not yet in their 60s.

Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch (51) is at 830 wins and in his 12th year of managing. Dave Roberts (53) of the Los Angeles Dodgers is in his 12th year at the helm, and has 908 wins entering Sunday. Tampa Bay Rays skipper Kevin Cash (47) is also in his 11th year, and has amassed 869 victories. Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell (54) is next up at 847 through 11 seasons. Anyone active beyond that has either not been around long enough to know if they’ll pick up anywhere enough wins — like Aaron Boone — or is already approaching 60, which means they might not have the longevity they need — such as Torey Lovullo.

Hinch, though, has youth on his side, and nothing but success to point to since returning to the dugout in 2015 to manage the Houston Astros. He led the 2017 World Series-winning club, the first of three consecutive 100-game winners, then the 2019 AL pennant squad. While let go as part of the league’s investigation into sign-stealing, Hinch ended up with the Tigers in 2021 after serving his suspension, and has turned them around: Detroit made the postseason in 2024 for the first time since 2014, and in 2025 has the best record in the majors.

Rank	Manager	From	To	W	L	W%
1	Connie Mack	1894	1950	3731	3948	.486
2	Tony La Russa	1979	2022	2884	2499	.536
3	John McGraw	1899	1932	2763	1948	.586
4	Bobby Cox	1978	2010	2504	2001	.556
5	Joe Torre	1977	2010	2326	1997	.538
6	Bruce Bochy	1995	2025	2217	2233	.498
7	Sparky Anderson	1970	1995	2194	1834	.545
8	Dusty Baker	1993	2023	2183	1862	.540
9	Bucky Harris	1924	1956	2158	2219	.493
10	Joe McCarthy	1926	1950	2125	1333	.615
11	Walter Alston	1954	1976	2040	1613	.558
12	Leo Durocher	1939	1973	2008	1709	.540
13	Terry Francona	1997	2025	2000	1719	.538

Roberts might be two years older than Hinch and has fewer wins to this point, but it’s hard to argue that he’s not in a better position. The Dodgers have the longest run of sustained success in MLB, one that’s reaching historically noteworthy levels, and there’s little reason to think they won’t be able to keep that up into the future. There is no easy mode to reach 2,000 wins, and certainly no guarantees, but, at 53 and with the power of the Dodgers’ resources and organizational structure behind him, Roberts is maybe the most viable candidate of his generation.

At 47, Cash is the youngest of this bunch, and is just over 60 wins behind Roberts despite the age gap. The Rays aren’t the Dodgers in a number of ways, but they are stable, and are not prone to removing managers from the dugout if they’re succeeding. In fact, Cash took over after Joe Maddon opted out of his contract before the 2015 season. He’s averaged 82 wins per season from 2015-2024, and the Rays have 50 wins in 2025. Like with Hinch and Roberts, he’s still a long way off, but you can see a path here, and his age means he can take that path a bit more slowly, too.

Then there’s Counsell, who, like Cash, got started in 2015, but was much older than he was when he took the Milwaukee Brewers’ job. At 54 — and he’ll turn 55 in August — Counsell is the oldest of this group, and also last in wins among them. His teams have also had one season under .500 since he had his first winning campaign in 2017, so he’s been able to make up for the later start. He’s still early in his Cubs tenure, and they don’t have quite the consistency of the Dodgers or Rays, but he still has a shot at 2,000, even if it’s not as good as the three active managers ahead of him on the list. For Counsell, more than that trio, how long he ultimately decides to manage for is going to play a significant role in his final total.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is among the possible realistic candidates who could get 2,000 wins among active managers. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

As for Francona, now that he’s reached 2,000 wins, he has other milestones to attain. He’s 66 years old and in his 24th season as a manager, but there are those who have stayed in the dugout until they were significantly older, and for much longer. He could jump from 13th place to 12th place, leapfrogging Leo Durocher, with another nine wins, and 41 will get him past Walter Alston and into 11th place. Francona is 125 wins behind Joe McCarthy for 10th all-time, which is going to take a little longer, and he can pass Bucky Harris for ninth-ever with 159 more Ws. Dusty Baker moved into eighth all-time before retiring following the 2023 season, but Francona could move ahead of him with 184 more victories, and another 11 would bump Sparky Anderson back a spot, as well, putting him seventh all-time.

Everything after that depends on how long Francona wants to manage, how long he’s allowed to continue to manage and how well the Reds perform under him. He’s in the first year of a three-year contract, and the Reds are currently on pace for 83 wins. If they keep that pace, he’d need to average 76 wins over the next two seasons to pass Anderson. Beyond that, though? Bruce Bochy is a moving target, and Joe Torre, in fifth place in MLB history, sits 326 wins away from Francona right now.

But hey, Francona has overcome a huge lead against Torre that he wasn’t supposed to before. What’s one more?

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