The 2018 Major League Baseball season has come to an end. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series two weeks ago. It is now time for the major awards: Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young Award, and Most Valuable Player.
On Tuesday, the National League Manager of the Year will be announced. The finalists in the National League are Atlanta Braves Brian Snitker, Milwaukee Brewers Craig Counsell, and Colorado Rockies Bud Black.
Brian Snitker
Atlanta Braves, 90-72
Snitker took over a team that was starting a rebuild back in 2016. He has since led the team to consecutive years of improvement, culminating in an NL East championship for the first time since 2013. It was a surprise to most fans outside of Atlanta, as they had lost 90 or more games in each of the last three seasons.
Snitker improved his winning percentage to .493 in three seasons with the Braves. They went from fifth to third to first in those three years.
Craig Counsell
Milwaukee Brewers, 96-67
Counsell has taken the Brewers from rebuilding mode to rebuilt. The Brewers finished with a franchise high 96 regular season wins and 102 total wins. The Brewers were 6 games behind the Chicago Cubs on August 28. They went 22-7, including an 8-game winning streak at the end, to force Game 163. The Brewers won that game, swept the Rockies in the NLDS, and won the first game against the Dodgers in the NLCS. They would lose that series in 7 games, but that does not take away from all they accomplished.
Counsell led the Brewers to the best record in the National League. He has a career .506 winning percentage in 4 seasons as the Brewers manager.
Bud Black
Colorado Rockies, 91-72
The Colorado Rockies had a solid second half. They were 3 games under .500 and 8 games behind the lead on June 28. They won five straight games heading into the All-Star Break and went 40-27 in the second half. The Rockies won 9 of their last 10 games to force a Game 163 with the Los Angeles Dodgers to determine the NL West champion. They ultimately lost that game, but did win the Wild Card Game to get to the NLDS for the first time since 2009.
Black led the Rockies to back-to-back post seasons for the first time in franchise history. He finished third in NL Manager of the Year voting last season, and he won the award in 2010 with the San Diego Padres.
Who Will Win?
Snitker and Counsell both took their teams farther than expected, but Counsell took a team that did not have a true ace and led them to the best record in the National League. Because of that, Counsell gets the edge.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.