Managing the best team in baseball won’t guarantee you a Manager of the Year award, as Cubs manager Joe Maddon learned on Tuesday night. First-year Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts took the honors over Maddon and Nationals manager Dusty Baker.
In his first season with the Dodgers, Roberts, who had not managed at the professional level before this year, led the team to 91 wins, the Dodgers’ fourth straight NL West division title, a Division Series win over Baker’s Nationals and to the NLCS, where they were eliminated in six games by the Cubs. Maddon, who won the award last season, led the Cubs to 103 wins, the franchise’s first 100-win season since 1935, en route to the World Series.