The Kansas City Royals saw a 30-game improvement in 2024 under manager Matt Quatraro, one of six finalists for Manager of the Year honors announced Monday.
Quatraro, 50, oversaw a stunning turnaround for the Royals, who were coming off a lifeless 56-106 last-place finish in 2023. A similar roster in 2024 became a winning squad under Quatraro’s direction, going 86-76 with a second-place finish in the American League Central.
This year’s Royals earned a 2-0 sweep of the Baltimore Orioles in their wild-card series before dropping an AL Division Series to the New York Yankees three games to one.
Quatraro will have stiff competition in the AL from two divisional rivals, A.J. Hinch of the Detroit Tigers and Stephen Vogt of the Cleveland Guardians.
Hinch matched Quatraro by directing an 86-76 club that found postseason success. Hinch’s Tigers swept the Houston Astros 2-0 in the other wild-card series and pushed the Guardians to five games in their ALDS before losing 3-2.
Meanwhile, the first-place Guardians and Vogt had the most successful season of the bunch, winning 92 games and taking that postseason series with Detroit to make their first AL Championship Series since 2016. They lost in five games (4-1) to the Yankees.
The nominees for the award in the National League are Pat Murphy of the Milwaukee Brewers, Mike Shildt of the San Diego Padres and Carlos Mendoza of the New York Mets.
Murphy and Shildt each helmed 93-69 squads that made the postseason. While Murphy saw his season come to an end at the hands of Mendoza’s 89-73 Mets, Shildt piloted the Padres to a 2-0 wild-card series win over the Atlanta Braves.
Mendoza’s squad went on to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1 in an NL Division Series to make the NL Championship Series, their first since 2015, where they fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games (4-2).
