Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly a finalist for BBWAA’s NL Manager of the Year

More accolades could be in line for Don Mattingly after leading the Miami Marlins to being one of the surprise teams in a 2020 MLB season full of surprises.

Mattingly on Monday was named as one of three finalists for the National League Manager of the Year, as voted on by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. The Chicago Cubs’ David Ross and San Diego Padres’ Jayce Tingler are the other finalists. The winner will be announced Nov. 10 on MLB Network.

Mattingly, who finished his fifth year as Miami’s manager, led the Marlins to their first playoff appearance since 2003 after the club posted a 31-29 record. Miami advanced to the National League Division Series before losing to the Atlanta Braves.

He did so while maneuvering through a COVID-19 outbreak at the start of the year that had 18 players test positive and a seemingly never-ending wave of roster moves that followed. In 60 regular-season games, the Marlins made 174 roster moves, used 61 players overall and had 18 players make their MLB debuts.

Jack McKeon, who Mattingly passed for most wins as manager in club history with 282 on Aug. 6 at Baltimore, and Joe Girardi are the only other Marlins manager to win the BBWAA’s NL Manager of the Year award. McKeon won in 2003, the year the Marlins won their most recent World Series. Girardi won in 2006.

Mattingly was previously named the NL Manager of the Year by Sporting News. That award was determined by a vote among league managers.

“I’m usually not a guy that gets very excited about that kind of stuff. I’ve had enough success — MVP and batting titles — that those are things that don’t kind of make me excited. This is one that’s exciting,” Mattingly said on Oct. 20 about the Sporting News award, “but it’s not exciting necessarily just for me. I think I look at this award as an organizational award. You have to have great staff. Your players have to go perform, so as an organization I feel like it’s just so good to be recognized because you know where we’ve been the last couple of seasons and to be making strides — that’s who gets these awards, right? You don’t get them when you’re expected to win World Series and you come close. You get them when you’re team is not expected to do a lot and you kind of overachieve.”