Maddon, Banister selected Managers of the Year

Jeff Banister of the American League Texas Rangers and Joe Maddon of the National League Chicago Cubs, who both produced turnaround seasons, won Manager of the Year honours in results announced on Tuesday.

Maddon dipped into a few old tricks from his tenure as skipper of the Tampa Bay Rays, who he lifted from American League door mats to a trip to the 2008 World Series.

He earned the honor over Mike Matheny of the Cardinals, whose team lost to Chicago in the National League Division Series, and the World Series runners-up Mets’ Terry Collins, who received three first-place votes.

With his colorful, fun-loving manner, the 61-year-old Maddon led a young club to the third-best record in the majors at 97-65.

The Cubs improved by 24 games over the 2014 season – tops in the majors.

“To be the steward of this wonderful group of young players, I feel very fortunate”, Maddon said.

Banister earned 17 first-place votes and 112 total points to beat A.J. Hinch (82 points) of the Houston Astros and Paul Molitor (33) of the Minnesota Twins. Maddon moved Russell from second base to shortstop – his natural position – and initially benched three-time All-Star Starlin Castro. “But it means that we had a group of players that went out every single day and played”.

Maddon set the relaxed tone in spring training but also demanded attention to detail, especially when it came to fundamentals. Past Jon Lester and Arrieta, there is not really a dependable postseason arm, and even Lester was not a great postseason pitcher this past season, hence why the Cubs did not win it all, according to The Washington Post.

“It’s not overachieving necessarily as much as it is understanding how to play this game daily and actually meeting your level of expectation regarding the talent level, because the talent level is that good, ” Maddon said. “I believe what occurred eventually was that we kind of realized our potential”.

The Cubs finished April four games over.

The Chicago Cubs are on a mission to reverse a century old curse and while they did not get it done this past season, their manager, Joe Maddon, certainly is not to blame.

“Obviously, the spotlight is shining from Wrigley Field”, Maddon said.

If Maddon and the Cubs are going to compete next season, the one issue they must take care of is their rotation.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.