Dave Roberts at least got a little recognition this time.
After being left off every ballot a year ago, the Dodgers manager finished fifth in National League Manager of the Year voting, collecting two second-place votes and one third-place vote for seven total points. In the Baseball Writers Association of America system, a first-place vote is worth five points, second place gets three, and third place gets one.
The award belonged to Pat Murphy once again. The Milwaukee Brewers manager ran his streak to three straight Manager of the Year wins, becoming the first skipper in the 44-year history of the award to take it three years in a row. Murphy appeared on all 30 ballots and picked up 20 first-place votes.
Walt Weiss of the Atlanta Braves finished second with seven first-place votes. Philadelphia Phillies manager Don Mattingly came in third and received one first-place vote, while Craig Stammen of the San Diego Padres landed fourth with two first-place votes.
For Roberts, the fifth-place finish fits a pattern that has been in place for much of his Dodgers tenure. First-year managers often draw votes when their teams win, and Weiss, Mattingly and Stammen all fit that mold this year.
Roberts himself won the award in 2016, his first season with the Dodgers, and finished second in 2017. Since then, he has finished higher than fourth only once, and that came in 2022 when the Dodgers won 111 games - the most by a National League team in more than a century - and Roberts again finished second.
Roberts’ recent voting history tells the story clearly:
2016: 1st, 16 first-place votes, 108 points
2017: 2nd, 5 first-place votes, 55 points
2018: 6th, 1 third-place vote, 1 point
2019: 4th, 4 first-place votes, 25 points
2020: 5th, 1 first-place vote, 13 points
2021: 5th, 6 third-place votes, 6 points
2022: 2nd, 8 first-place votes, 57 points
2023: 5th, 4 first-place votes, 41 points
2024: 7th, 3 third-place votes, 3 points
2025: n/a, no votes
2026: 5th, 2 second-place votes, 1 third-place vote, 7 points
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