Joe Maddon didn’t win a division or league title in 2015, but his leadership of the Chicago Cubs was impressive enough for him to be named Tuesday night as the National League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
This marks the third time that Maddon has won the award, earning the honor with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008 and 2011. The Cubs made a 24-game improvement under Maddon, who joins Jim Frey (1984), Don Zimmer (1989) and Lou Piniella (2008) as managers who have won the award with the Cubs.
Maddon was selected over Mike Matheny of the St. Louis Cardinals and Terry Collins of the New York Mets. Maddon, who received 18 first-place votes, was the only manager named on all 30 ballots.
Matheny received nine first-place ballots and finished second, followed by Collins (who received three first-place votes). Clint Hurdle of Pittsburgh, Bruce Bochy of San Francisco and Don Mattingly of the Los Angeles Dodgers received third-place votes.
Maddon, 61, lived up to his billing as an entertaining leader and fearless tactician in his first season with the Cubs after exercising an option to get out of the final season of his contact with the Rays.
Under Maddon’s leadership, the Cubs won 97 games with a lineup that once included as many as five rookie position players.
Voting for the award was completed prior to the start of the playoffs, in which Maddon’s Cubs beat the Pirates in the NL wild-card game at PNC Park and upset three-time defending NL Central champion St. Louis in the NL Division Series.
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