Typically, the Manager of the Year award goes to one of two skippers: the one who oversees the best team in the league, or the one who captains the most surprising team.
As a result, Seattle Mariners head honcho Scott Servais is all but certain to receive consideration from voters this fall and may even be the favorite at the All-Star break. The Mariners are, without a doubt, the most shocking team in the American League, having raced out to a 58-39 record that puts them three games ahead of the Oakland Athletics for the second wild-card spot.
On Friday, Servais received a different kind of reward for the M's good fortune: a multi-year extension that ensures he'll remain in charge alongside friend and boss Jerry Dipoto, who recently signed a multi-year pact of his own:
Mariners announce Scott Servais has agreed to terms on a multi-year contract extension.
— Shannon Drayer (@shannondrayer) July 20, 2018
Regardless of how much credit Servais deserves for this season -- the Mariners are 26-12 in one-run games, yet have a 48-49 Pythagorean record based on their negative run differential -- he'll become the first Seattle manager in a while to serve into a fourth year for the first time since Lou Piniella back in the mid-90s. The Mariners have had just one other manager last beyond three seasons in their franchise's history: original skipper Darrell Johnson.
In between Piniella leaving after the 2002 season and Servais taking over before 2016, the Mariners eight different managers, including multiple interim skippers.
Perhaps, then, Servais's extension is a much bigger honor than winning an award.
