This article first appeared in part on MLB.com
The two managers who each guided a team to the best record in its respective league won the Manager of the Year honors presented by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on MLB Network on Tuesday night.
But of course, it’s not that simple.
Kevin Cash became just the second skipper in history to win this honor in consecutive years by leading a 100-win Rays team that had only a fraction of the pitching staff that had helped Tampa Bay claim the American League pennant in 2020. And Gabe Kapler earned the National League honor by taking a Giants team that virtually nobody picked to reach October and leading it to the highest win total (107) in franchise history.
So Cash, who received 19 of a possible 30 first-place votes in balloting that took place at the conclusion of the regular season, and Kapler, who received 28, both did this the hard way.
