New York Mets’ Buck Showalter wins his FOURTH Managers of the Year, Terry Francona collects AL prize

Cleveland’s Terry Francona and New York’s Buck Showalter were named Managers of the Year Tuesday night, enhancing the already sparkling resumes of both veteran baseball leaders.

Showalter – who won the NL award in a very close race – is only the third person to win a fourth Manager of the Year award and the first to win with four different franchises. He won with the Yankees in 1994, Rangers in 2004, Orioles in 2014 and now the Mets.

The other four-time winners are Hall of Famers Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa.

“The game has changed,” Showalter said of his four awards in four decades. “But in many ways it’s stayed the same.”

Showalter received eight of 30 first place votes, 10 second place votes and 77 total points, beating second-place Los Angeles Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts. Roberts also garnered eight first place votes, but only had 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. Voting was done by a panel from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Showalter led the Mets to the second-best regular season in franchise history, finishing with 101 wins, marking a 24-win improvement from 2021. They finished second in the NL East to the Braves, who rallied to clinch the division to win.

The 66-year-old Showalter brought a sense of stability and weight to a franchise that had been saddled with problems on and off the field in recent seasons.

Francona won the AL award for the third time in 10 seasons. He received 17 of 30 first place votes and nine second place votes for 112 points from the BBWAA panel.

Baltimore’s Brandon Hyde finished second—with nine first-place votes and 79 points—after leading the Orioles to a 31-win turnaround. Seattle’s Scott Servais was third with one first place, eight second places and 14 third places. He led the Mariners back to the postseason this season, breaking a two-decade playoff drought.

A two-time World Series winner with Boston, Francona’s 10th season in Cleveland was arguably his best job as a manager. He is the ninth person to win the award three times.

“It should be considered an organization award because that’s how I feel,” Francona said. “You start hearing people talk about you personally, it makes you a little uncomfortable, but for the things I can brag about our organization with, that really makes me happy.”

The youngest baseball team, the Guardians, unexpectedly won the AL Central, overtook the Chicago White Sox in September and ran off with the division. Cleveland then swept Tampa Bay in the wild card round before losing to the Yankees in five games in the AL Division Series.

A vote was taken in favor of the post-season.

Francona survived the season after health problems forced him to leave the team in 2020 and 2021. The 63-year-old said he got new energy from his young team, which had 17 players debuting in the big league this season.

He plans to return in 2023, but Francona and the Guardians have an open agreement that allows him to step aside if necessary.