Mattingly guided the surprising Marlins to a second-place finish in the National League East and a first postseason appearance since 2003. On Tuesday night, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America honored Don Mattingly for his efforts. The BBWAA named Mattingly the 2020 National League Manager of the Year. He become just the 5th person to win both an MVP(1985) and Manager of the Year Award, joining Don Baylor, Frank Robinson, Kirk Gibson and Joe Torre.
And with a 31-29 record, Miami finished with its first winning mark since 2009. Arguably MLB’s biggest surprise story, the Marlins advanced to the NL Division Series, where they were swept in three games by the Braves. In the NL Wild Card Series, the Marlins eliminated the Cubs in two games.
“More than ever this year, you had to be steady,” Mattingly said Tuesday night during a conference call. “We were going to celebrate the fact that we were in a pennant race. I just wasn’t willing to let our guys give up on that. That was the biggest thing. We’re not giving up on the fact that we can do this.”
Mattingly becomes the third Marlins manager to receive the honor, joining Jack McKeon (2003) and Joe Girardi (2006). He has transformed the culture in the clubhouse for a team coming off two straight last-place finishes and a combined 120-203 record in 2018-19.
Before moving on to Miami in 2016, Mattingly managed the Dodgers from 2011-15, posting a 446-363 record, including three straight NL West Division titles.
The BBWAA award is the second Manager of the Year honor won by Mattingly this offseason. In October, he was named NL Manager of the Year by Sporting News. He’s the third manager in franchise history to receive that honor, joining Girardi (2006) and Fredi González (2008).
“We felt like we were turning that corner,” Mattingly said. “Our starters were coming. We had depth in the Minor Leagues. We felt like we had young position players coming. We started to see the depth at the higher levels. It was not like they were in A ball or were two years away. They were going to be a phone call away.”
The 59-year-old Mattingly finished with 20 first-place votes and eight second-place votes for 124 points. Jayce Tingler of the Padres finished second with six first-place votes and 71 points, and David Ross of the Cubs was third with 25 points.
NATIONAL LEAGUE VOTING RESULTS :
Don Mattingly (MIA): 20 (1st-place votes), 8 (2nd) – 124 points
Jayce Tingler (SD): 6 (1st), 13 (2nd), 2 (3rd) – 71 points
David Ross (CHC): 1 (1st), 2 (2nd), 14 (3rd) – 25 points
Brian Snitker (ATL): 1 (1st), 2 (2nd), 5 (3rd) – 16 points
Dave Roberts (LAD): 1 (1st), 2 (2nd), 2 (3rd) – 13 points
Mike Shildt (STL): 3 (2nd), 1 (3rd) – 10 points
Craig Counsell (MIL): 1 (1st), 1 (3rd) – 6 points
Gabe Kapler (SF): 3 (3rd) – 3 points
David Bell (CIN): 2 (3rd) – 2 points
