Showalter, Williams named managers of the year

Nov 12, 2014 - 12:02 AM (SportsNetwork.com) - Buck Showalter captured his third AL Manager of the Year award on Tuesday, and Matt Williams was named the best skipper in the Senior Circuit per the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Showalter, who captured the award in 1994 with the Yankees and 10 years later with the Rangers, guided the Baltimore Orioles to 96 wins and an AL East crown this past season.

Baltimore won its first division title since 1997 despite having several key players go down with injuries, including All-Stars Matt Wieters and Manny Machado. The Orioles reached the ALCS but were swept by the Royals.

Showalter, the sixth manager to win the award three or more times, received 25 of the 30 first-place votes and 132 points overall to beat out the Angels' Mike Scioscia and Kansas City's Ned Yost.

Scioscia led the Angels to the majors' best record (98-64), while Yost led to Royals to their first playoff appearance since 1985. Scioscia and Yost received 61 and 41 points, respectively.

Williams took over in the nation's capital for the retired Davey Johnson, and in his first year as a big league manager, led the Nationals to the best record in the NL.

The Nationals finished the regular season with 10 more wins (96) than the 2013 squad and won the NL East by a staggering 17 games. They lost in four games to the eventual World Series-champion Giants in the NLDS.

Williams came away 18 first-place votes and 109 points overall.

Pirates skipper Clint Hurdle and San Francisco's Bruce Bochy finished second and third with 80 and 30 points, respectively. Hurdle was vying for the award for a second straight year after leading the Pirates to back-to-back postseasons. Bochy's Giants entered the playoffs as the second wild card team and wound up winning their third championship in five years.