On Tuesday, the Baseball Writers Association of America named Indians skipper Terry Francona the 2016 American League Manager of the Year. Rangers manager Jeff Banister finished second in the voting and Orioles manager Buck Showalter was third.
The voting was a relative landslide. Francona received 22 of the 30 first place votes and accumulated 128 total voting points, exactly double Banister's second place total. Banister received four first place votes. Showalter and Red Sox manager John Farrell received two each.
Francona is the 15th manager in history to be named Manager of the Year multiple times. He also won the award with the Indians in 2013, his first year with the club. Francona led the Tribe to a 94-67 record and a first place finish in the AL Central in 2016.
Cleveland won the division even though Michael Brantley, their best hitter, was limited to 11 games by shoulder surgery. All-Star righty Danny Salazar was basically a non-factor in the second half as well. The Indians still won the division by eight games.
Keep in mind voting for all awards takes place after the regular season but before the postseason. The playoffs do not count. That means Cleveland's pennant win didn't help Francona and Showalter's decision to not use Zach Britton in the Wild Card Game didn't hurt him.
Banister was named Manager of the Year last season. This year he led the Rangers to their second straight AL West title. Texas went 95-67 and had the best record in the AL. Had he won, Banister would have become only the second man to win Manager of the Year in back-to-back years, joining Bobby Cox of the Braves (2004-05).
The Orioles went 89-73 this past season and went to the playoffs as the first wild-card team. This would have been Showalter's fourth Manager of the Year award. He won it in 1994, 2004, and 2014.
Francona (2013, 2016) and Eric Wedge (2007) are the only Indians managers to have been named AL Manager of the Year.
The full 2016 AL Manager of the Year voting results can be found at the BBWAA's website.
