Unlike the NL Rookie of the Year, which Corey Seager won in a unanimous vote, the Manager of the Year tallies figure to be much closer. Manager of the Year is traditionally one of the more hotly-contested MLB award races, and this year figures to be no different. I really have no idea who's going to win in either league. And I can envision each of the six winning.
Last year's winners--Joe Maddon of the Cubs and Jeff Banister of the Rangers--are both finalists again, as they look to join Hall of Famer Bobby Cox as the only repeat winners in the award's history. If Maddon wins, it will be record-setting for two reasons. It would be his fourth career win, tying the all-time record. Dusty Baker and Buck Showalter also have a chance to win for the fourth time. In fact, five of the six finalists have previously won this award at least one, and the only one who hasn't--Dave Roberts--is a rookie manager!
Let's start with Roberts. I've gotta consider him the favorite for the NL award. He took over a Dodgers team that got rid of Don Mattingly under the weight of huge expectations. They handed the reins over to a rookie manager, but the expectations were still just as high. Then the Dodgers had injury after injury to deal with, including losing Clayton Kershaw for two months right after the All-Star break. Yet they somehow managed to hold off the rival Giants. The vote was conducted at the end of the regular season, so the playoffs don't count, but it's still worth noting that the Dodgers finally got over the Division Series hump this season (despite the fact that they were a much better team for the past few years).
The team the Dodgers beat in the Division Series was Washington, which achieved what it was supposed to do last year in Dusty Baker's first season at the helm. Matt Williams was Manager of the Year in 2014, then got fired after a disappointing 2015. So the Nationals turned to Baker, who made Washington the fourth different National League team he's taken to the playoffs.
Then there's Joe Maddon. He won last year after leading the Cubs to the playoffs a year ahead of schedule. This year, there was no question they were the best team in baseball. They won 103 games during the regular season, then did something none of us thought we'd ever see--they won the World Series.
Everyone knew the Cubs were going to be good, though. I'm not saying that should disqualify Maddon for Manager of the Year (they did 103 games after all), and I remember Joe Torre winning Manager of the Year with those record-setting 1998 Yankees. But is an established manager doing what he was supposed to do with a really good team really mean he did the best managing job that season? In this case, I say the answer is "No!" Not when you had a rookie manager overcoming a ton of injuries to win a competitive division.
Dave Roberts' playing career is perhaps best remembered for one stolen base. In Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. The one that sparked Boston's comeback from 3-0 down against the Yankees and sparked the Red Sox' run to their curse-breaking title. Who was the manager of that team? Terry Francona. The same Terry Francona who was the AL Manager of the Year two years ago when he took Cleveland to the playoffs. This year the Indians did one better. They won the AL Central going away, then took it all the way to Game 7 of the World Series.
I'd say Francona's gotta be the favorite on the AL side, especially considering he lost 40 percent of his starting rotation in September. But he faces some stiff competition from Buck Showalter. No one expected Baltimore to be a factor in a division that included Boston and Toronto. Yet the Orioles led the AL East for nearly three months and ended up with one of the wild card berths.
Baltimore sure can hit. So can Texas. Last year, the Rangers' success took everyone a little bit by surprise. This year it didn't. Texas dominated the AL West with one of the best lineups in baseball, and this time they had the pitching to back it up. In fact, the Rangers ended up with the best record in the American League this season. And, again, the playoffs don't count, so that sweep by the Blue Jays won't cost Banister.
Just like I said about Maddon, though, Texas didn't take anyone by surprise this season. That might be why it's so hard to win Manager of the Year back-to-back. I don't even have Banister in my AL top three, actually. Because the work Scott Servais did in Seattle can't be ignored. I'm going to make a bold prediction right now--the Mariners win the AL West in 2017.
My NL top three is Roberts, Baker, Maddon. Meanwhile, in the AL, my vote goes to Terry Francona for that remarkable job he did in Cleveland this season. Showalter and Servais round out my American League selections. Those aren't predictions. That's just who I would've picked. Like Michigan, these races are too close to make a call.
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