The Winningest Managers in MLB History

Connie Mack holds the record for the most wins by an MLB manager, with 3,731. That total, compiled across 53 seasons mostly with the Philadelphia Athletics, sits nearly 1,000 wins ahead of second-place Tony La Russa (2,902).

Managerial win totals reward the rarest combination in baseball: sustained success and sheer longevity. A manager has to win consistently and keep his job for decades, which is why the top of this list is dominated by names who ran a dugout across generations. Here is the full leaderboard of the winningest managers in MLB history. All figures are as of the 2025 season, with active managers noted.

The record holder: Connie Mack and 3,731 wins

Mack managed from 1894 to 1950, a span no one else has approached, and for most of that time he also owned the Athletics, which kept him in the dugout through both dynasties and long rebuilds. He won five World Series titles and nine pennants, but the record itself is as much about endurance as excellence: 53 seasons produce an enormous number of games.

That same longevity means Mack also holds the records for most losses (3,948) and most games managed. His 3,731 wins are essentially unreachable, because no modern manager will ever run a team for half a century.

The full leaderboard of managerial wins

The table below ranks the managers with the most career regular-season wins.

Rank	Wins	Manager	Primary teams
1	3,731	Connie Mack	Philadelphia Athletics
2	2,902	Tony La Russa	White Sox, Athletics, Cardinals
3	2,763	John McGraw	New York Giants
4	2,504	Bobby Cox	Braves, Blue Jays
5	2,326	Joe Torre	Yankees, Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers
6	2,194	Sparky Anderson	Reds, Tigers
7	2,158	Bucky Harris	Senators, Tigers, others
8	2,125	Joe McCarthy	Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox
9	2,040	Walter Alston	Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers
10	2,008	Leo Durocher	Dodgers, Giants, Cubs, Astros

Every manager in the top 10 spent decades in the dugout. Active manager Bruce Bochy has passed 2,000 wins and is climbing into this range, the only current skipper on that path.

La Russa, McGraw and the modern era

Tony La Russa’s 2,902 wins came over parts of five decades and three franchises, and he added to the total by returning to manage the Chicago White Sox in his 70s. John McGraw, third with 2,763, was the defining manager of the early 20th century with the New York Giants. Below them, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre represent the modern game, each building his total through long, stable tenures and deep playoff runs.

The active chase

Bruce Bochy is the active manager most likely to rise up the list. After winning three titles with the San Francisco Giants and stepping away, he returned to lead the Texas Rangers to the 2023 World Series and has continued adding wins. Catching La Russa, let alone Mack, would require many more seasons, but Bochy is the current standard-bearer for active managers. For the on-field side of team success, see our leaderboard on the best regular-season record in MLB history.

Why the record matters

Managerial wins measure a career, not a season, so the record captures who stayed effective the longest. Mack’s 3,731 is a monument to a bygone era when one man could run and own a team for 50 years. For more on baseball’s benchmark numbers, see our leaderboards on the most hits in MLB history and the longest winning streak in MLB history.

The short version: Connie Mack is the winningest manager in MLB history with 3,731 wins, far ahead of Tony La Russa (2,902) and John McGraw (2,763). Bruce Bochy leads active managers past 2,000. As of the 2025 season, Mack’s total remains untouchable.