Oakland Athletics skipper Bob Melvin was named American League Manager of the Year on Tuesday after guiding the team with the lowest opening-day payroll in baseball to a 97-65 record and its first playoff berth in four years.
The A’s won 22 more games this season than last — the third time a team managed by Melvin has improved by 20 wins from the previous year. Oakland’s 97 wins were the most by any A’s team since 2002.
The A’s went 63-29 from June 16 through the rest of the season for the fourth-best record in baseball. Oakland also went a majors-best 31-14 in one-run games and had 10 walk-off victories.
The A’s reached the postseason for the first time since 2014 following last-place finishes in the AL West each of the previous three years. They trailed the Seattle Mariners by 11 games in the wild-card race on June 15 before a strong second half — not to mention all the comeback wins and walk-offs — pushed them into the playoffs, where they lost to the New York Yankees in the AL wild-card game.
The 57-year-old Melvin, who joined Oakland in 2011, won Manager of the Year in 2007 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and 2012 with the A’s.
Melvin collected 18 first-place votes and 121 points to beat Alex Cora of the Boston Red Sox, who was second with seven first-place votes and 79 points, and Kevin Cash of the Tampa Bay Rays, who was third with five first-place votes and 57 points.
Three of the past four AL Managers of the Year (Paul Molitor, Buck Showalter, Jeff Bannister) were fired this year.