Joe Madden and Kirk Gibson Named AL and NL Managers of the Year

The Baseball Writers Association of America have named Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon and Arizona Diamondbacks skipper Kirk Gibson the American and National League Managers of the Year respectively, according to a tweet from Major League Baseball.

Maddon, 57, helped manage the Rays into the playoffs this season after trailing the Boston Red Sox in the wild card standings by as many as nine-and-a-half games entering the final month of the season. The Rays, who finished with 90-or-more wins for the third time in the last four seasons, did so even after losing impact players such as Carl Crawford and Matt Garza from their 2010 squad.

The Rays went on to lose to the American League champion Texas Rangers in the American League Divisional Series.

Gibson, 54, helped lead the Diamondbacks to a National League West title in his first full-season as manager. Arizona finished with a 94-68 record, beating out the San Francisco Giants, the defending World Series champions, for the division crown. The club had finished with a 65-97 record in 2010, which was the worst in the division and the second worst in the National League.