The Baseball Writers' Association of America have been naming off their awards, and the latest goes to Tampa Bay Rays' Joe Maddon. Early on Wednesday, he was named the American League Manager of the Year, finishing with 26 of the 28 first-place votes, earning the award for the second time in the past four seasons, and now holds two of the top three highest vote totals in the history of the award voting.
In second place was Jim Leyland of the Detroit Tigers, while Ron Washington took third. Rounding out the top four was Cleveland Indians' manager Manny Acta, courtesy of the official Indians Twitter account:
Congrats to Manny Acta on his 4th place finish in the 2011 AL Manager of the Year voting (16 points, 3 2nd place votes)
Acta lead his team to a much better season than many anticipated, and kept them competitive behind the very strong Detroit Tigers within the division.. The three second place votes are certainly note-worthy, given the competition this year.