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Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland was far from winning the AL Manager of the Year, but he did receive two third-place votes. Oakland Athletics skipper Bob Melvin won the award, with Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter finishing in second.
Both Melvin and Showalter were the managers of two teams that made surprise runs at the playoffs before bowing out in their division series. Leyland, on the other hand, led a team that was seen by many as a disappointment for most of the season before Detroit took control of the A.L. Central for good.
The two Baseball Writers of America members who voted for Leyland were Naoko Sato of Nikkan Sports News and Gregg Patton of the Riverside Enterprise Press. Those votes -- and all votes for baseball's postseason awards -- were turned in before the playoffs and were based only on the regular season.
Leyland has won the Manager of the Year award three times in his career: in 1990 and 1992 as the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and in 2006 with the Tigers.