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Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash was named the American League’s manager of the year on Tuesday, receiving 22 of 30 votes for first place.
Cash guided the Rays to a division title as well as the AL’s best regular season record at 40-20. The Rays’ .667 win percentage was by far the best in franchise history.
Tampa Bay overcame a rash of pitching injuries to clinch the AL pennant before losing in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
Cash, who turns 43 on December 6, hit 0.183 with 12 homers and 58 RBIs in 246 major league games as a wide receiver for five teams, including Tampa Bay. After his playing career, he worked as an advanced scout for Texas and Toronto before joining Terry Francona’s staff in Cleveland as the box coach.
The Tampa, Florida, native and Florida alumnus was hired as Tampa Bay manager the day before his 37th birthday. Cash is 454-416 in six seasons as manager of the Rays.
Cash became the second manager in Rays history to win the AL Manager of the Year award, joining Joe Maddon, who won the award in 2008 and 2011. Cash finished third in the ballot for AL Manager of the Year each. the last two seasons.
Cash came under heavy criticism for pulling left-hander Blake Snell’s ace in the sixth inning of World Series Game 6 against the Dodgers. However, the Rays have relied heavily on their enclosure throughout the pandemic shortened season, with 12 pitchers registering at least one save, matching the major league record. Cash insisted that if he were to face the same situation again, he would trust his enclosure to shut it down.
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America voting ended before the start of the playoffs. Rick Renteria of the White Sox was second and Charlie Montoyo of the Blue Jays was third.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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