The two Florida managers won Manager of the Year as they led their teams to the playoffs. The Marlins skipper received 20 of the 30 first-place votes to comfortably beat out San Diego’s Jayce Tingler and Chicago’s David Ross for the award. Kevin Cash of the Tampa Bay Rays got American League honors. Mattingly received 124 points during the balloting, the highest total for any Manager of the Year in either league since Terry Francona (2016). However, Cash surpassed him a few minutes later with 126 points.
Don Mattingly
Don Mattingly was the obvious choice for NL Manager of the Year. Mattingly guided the Marlins to an unlikely playoff berth in the mix of a Covid outbreak that happened at the beginning of the season. Mattingly is the 3rd Marlins manager to win this award, following the paths of Jack McKeon (2003) and Joe Girardi (2006).
The Marlins made the playoffs with 61 different players, including 18 players making their MLB debuts. This is a hard task for any manager. Mattingly admitted there were times he didn’t recognize either the names or faces of some of the players added to the roster. Yet, he repeatedly made no excuses.
Kevin Cash
While the move to pull Blake Snell in the World Series didn’t make Cash look good, he still deserved the AL Manager of the Year honors. Cash guided the Rays to a division title as well as the AL’s best regular-season record at 40-20. The Rays’ .667 win percentage in 2020 was by far the best in franchise history. Cash becomes the second manager in Rays history to win the AL Manager of the Year award, joining Joe Maddon, who won the award in 2008 and 2011. Rick Renteria of the White Sox finished second while Charlie Montoyo of the Blue Jays finished third.