By Peter Gleason
For all the talk about rigged elections from dumb-ass Donald Trump and his cult-like followers, the MLB Writers Association just conducted one.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who resurrected a walking dead 22-29 team and got them into the playoffs with 87 wins, then beat the Cards, Braves and Cards before losing to the Astros in the World Series, finished fifth in voting for manager of the year!
The Mets’ Buck Showalter became just the third person to take the prize four times and the first to do it with four different franchises.
He received eight of 30 first-place votes, 10 second-place votes and 77 total points, edging Los Angeles Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts, who finished second. Roberts also earned eight first-place votes but had just four second-place votes for 57 points. Atlanta’s Brian Snitker, who won the award in 2018, finished third with 55 points. He received seven first-place votes.
Showalter, 66, has now won Manager of the Year in four different decades, his previous awards coming in the AL with the New York Yankees (1994), Texas Rangers (2004) and Baltimore Orioles (2014). The other four-time winners are Hall of Famers Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa.
Five different managers received multiple first-place votes — Showalter (8), Roberts (8), Snitker (7), Oliver Marmol of the St. Louis Cardinals (5) and the Phillies’ Thomson (2).
