Showalter, Williams named top managers
Buck Showalter was awarded his third American League Manager of the Year award, and Matt Williams was named the best skipper in the National League, Major League Baseball announced on Tuesday.
Showalter guided the Baltimore Orioles to 96 wins and an AL East title this past season. Showalter also won the award with the New York Yankees in 1994 and a decade later with the Texas Rangers.
The awards were voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Baltimore Orioles Manager Buck Showalter walks back to the dugout at Kauffman Stadium on October 15, 2014 in Kansas City, Missouri ©Ed Zurga (Getty/AFP/File)
Baltimore won its first division title since 1997 despite having several key players go down with injuries. The Orioles reached the postseason semi-finals but lost in four straight games to the Kansas City Royals.
Showalter is the sixth manager to win the award three or more times.
Washington Nationals manager 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 whopping 17 games. They lost in the playoffs to the eventual World Series-champion San Francisco Giants.
Manager Matt Williams of the Washington Nationals in the dugout at AT&T Park on October 7, 2014 in San Francisco, California ©Thearon W. Henderson (Getty/AFP/File)
