Manager of the Year

In 2021, Kevin Cash won the AL Manager of the Year and Gabe Kapler was the NL Manager of the Year winner. Additionally, Dusty Baker and Scott Servais were nominated as finalists for the AL Manager of the Year. In the National League, Craig Counsell and Mike Shildt were finalists for Manager of the Year award. When reviewing the finalists, Scott Servais didn’t lead the Mariners to the playoffs. Hence, does a manager have to take the team to clinch a postseason berth to win the Manager of the Year award? Well, to answer this question, firstly, let’s look back at the winners of the Manager of the Year award from 2000 to 2021. In 2006, Joe Girardi led the young Marlins to fight for a wild-card berth in mid-September and he was voted the NL Manager of the Year. The Marlins finished the season with 78 wins and 84 losses. Thus, sometimes, it’s possible to see a manager, who did not lead the team with an over .500 winning percentage, win the Manager of the Year award. However, it’s very unusual to see a manager without having a .500 winning percentage to be named the Manager of the Year. Joe Giradi was the only manager to win the award with a fourth-place team and with a losing record. Over the last 22 seasons, 34 Manager of the Year winners each led a team to win at least 90 games in a single season. Well, last season was a shortened season, thus, it’s not often to see a manager that led a team without winning 90 games win the Manager of the Year award. So, who else also did win the Manager of the Year award without taking the team to the postseason? In 2001, Larry Bowa led the Phillies to a good 86-76 mark and finished 2nd in the NL East. In 2000, the Phillies only had 65 wins. Additionally, in 2003, Tony Pena led the Royals with a record of 83-79 in that season. It was the first season that the Royals had a winning record since the strike-shortened 1994 season. Moreover, Buck Showalter led the Rangers with a record of 89-73 in 2004 and the Rangers finished 3rd in the AL West. In 2003, the Rangers won only 71 games. Finally, Bud Black led the Padres to win 90 games in 2010 and finished 2nd in the NL West. In 2009, the Padres won only 75 games. Even though these managers didn’t lead the teams to clinch a berth in the postseason, a huge improvement in record helped these managers be awarded. Gabe Kapler and Kevin Cash each led the team to win at least 100 games in 2021. That’s definitely not an easy job to do. Meanwhile, among the finalists for the Manager of the Year award, Craig Counsell and Scott Servias didn’t win the award before. Furthermore, no manager from the Brewers won the Manager of the Year award yet. Moreover, Lou Piniella was the last Mariners’ manager to win the Manager of the Year award. He led the Mariners to a 116-win season in 2001 and it was the last time to see the Mariners in the postseason.