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American League Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon

I don’t think even the biggest die hard Tampa Bay Rays’ fan (if there is such a thing) could have envisioned the Rays making the postseason after losing Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, Carlos Pena, Joaquin Benoit, Matt Garza, and Jason Bartlett last winter and then even losing Manny Ramirez just five games into the season. But despite all of their losses, the Rays managed to win 91 games in 2011 and were led by a manager, who many consider the best one in the game right now.

The Rays manager was rewarded for his leadership today as Joe Maddon won the American League Manager of the Year award. Maddon received 26 out of 28 first-place votes to win the award for the second time in four years. Detroit Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland and Texas Rangers’ manager Ron Washington received the other first-place votes.

Maddon now joins Tony La Russa, Joe Torre, Sparky Anderson,* Buck Showalter, Lou Piniella, and Mike Scioscia as American League managers who have won the Manager of the Year award twice.

National League Manager of the Year: Kirk Gibson

Just like with the Rays, I don’t think there was a single person who predicted the Arizona Diamondbacks would make the postseason in 2011. I think most people had Arizona finishing fourth or fifth in the National League West.

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