There are fewer than two weeks remaining in the 2016 regular season, so the various postseason races are beginning to take on a final shape. While there's still time for things to change, it's always fun to discuss how the individual awards races are going to shake out. Let's do exactly that and examine the AL Manager of the Year race as it stands at this late hour.
Before we dive in, let's point out that our awards power rankings posts are not our predictions or even necessarily how we would vote. These are intended to provide a snapshot of where things stand at the moment, and we're making subjective judgments on how the vote could turn out based on recent historical voting tendencies.
These days the Manager of the Year award seems to go to the manager whose team most exceeded expectations, and/or has improved the most from last season. With that in mind, let's power rank the AL Manager of the Year hopefuls with just a 11 days to go in the regular season.
1. Cleveland Indians: Terry Francona
Francona was the 2013 AL Manager of the Year, his first year with the Indians, and he's in good shape to win the award for the second time in 2016. The Indians are going to win the AL Central -- it's only a matter of time until they clinch at this point -- and finish with 90-plus wins a year after going 81-80.
Cleveland has been able to do this despite getting only 11 games from their best player (Michael Brantley), and while losing stalwarts like Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, and Yan Gomes to injury for long stretches of time. The Indians have rarely been at full strength and they're still running away with the division. That's going to get Francona a lot of Manager of the Year love.
2. Boston Red Sox: John Farrell
Despite their high-powered offense, the Red Sox spent most of the season sitting in wild card position and occasionally flirting with the AL East lead. They've steamrolled the competition in September and jumped atop the division, and with a little more than a week to go in the regular season, they're a good bet to clinch their third AL East title since 1995.
Remember, a year ago the Red Sox were a last place team, though they weren't your normal last place team. Expectations were reasonably high and the BoSox were a massive disappointment in 2015. The same is true of 2014, really. It was obvious the Red Sox had talent, but it wasn't coming together. It has this year. Boston has shaken off those back-to-back last place finishes and stormed to the top of the division. That's the stuff that can win Manager of the Year awards.
3. Texas Rangers: Jeff Banister
No AL team has spent more days in first place this year than the Rangers. They assumed the top spot in the AL West on May 29 and haven't come all that close to relinquishing it since. Texas had dealt with a ton of injuries (Yu Darvish, Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Prince Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo, etc.) yet they continue to thrive.
The fact the Rangers won the AL West last year -- Banister was the 2015 Manager of the Year, remember -- works against Banister in this year's Manager of the Year race. Expectations were fairly high and they've met them, not exceeded them. Still, the skipper of the team with the best record in the league will get Manager of the Year votes. No doubt about it.
Honorable Mention: Joe Girardi, Yankees; Scott Servais, Mariners; Buck Showalter, Orioles
