Dave Roberts finishes second in National League Manager of the Year voting

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts finished second in National League Manager of the Year voting, his best finish on the ballot in five years.

The award, which was announced Tuesday afternoon by the Baseball Writers Association of America, went to Buck Showalter, who won 101 games in his first season with the Mets, a 24-win improvement over last year.

Roberts received eight first-place votes (same as Showalter, 10 second-place votes, and seven third-place votes, finishing with 75 points. It’s the best finish for Roberts since 2017, when he finished second.

Thirty voters — two for each league city — submit a ballot of three names, all votes due before the start of the postseason. Five points are awarded for each first-place vote, three points for every second-place vote, and one point for each third-place tally.

Voting was completed before the postseason began.

The Dodgers set a franchise record with 111 wins this season, after a franchise-record 106 wins in two of the previous three seasons sandwiched around a championship season in 2020.

“Certainly being the last team standing in 2020 was right at the top,” Roberts said on MLB Network Tuesday. “But if you look at the body of work that we accomplished this year, it’s right below winning a championship.”

Showalter got eight of 30 first-place votes, 10 second-place votes, and seven third-place votes, pacing field with 77 points. It’s the fourth Manager of the Year award for Showalter, who has been honored at the helm of four different teams, almost like clockwork. He won American League Manager of the Year in 1994 with the Yankees, then with the Rangers in 2004, and with the Orioles in 2014.

Brian Snitker, who led the Braves to 101 wins and a division title by winning the tiebreaker over Showalter’s Mets, finished in third place. He won the NL Manager of the Year in 2018.

I had a vote this year, and chose Roberts first, Snitker second, and Showalter third.

Roberts won NL Manager of the Year in his first year on the job in 2016, and has received votes every year on the job with Los Angeles.