Atlanta Braves’ first baseman Freddie Freeman wins National League Most Valuable Player

It was almost as if it was intended, but it wasn’t, as Don Mattingly wins National League Manager of the Year and Freddie Freeman the National League’s Most Valuable Player.

There’s quite a difference in age, Mattingly, the former New York Yankee first baseman, recently turned 59. Freeman, the first sacker of the Atlanta Braves, is now 31, but they are not strangers. Mattingly, who managed the Los Angeles Dodgers before coming to the Miami Marlins, knows Freeman well, often contacting him to get an update when the lefthanded slugger had tested positive for COPID-19 before the restored season had begun.

They went back and forth, nice-guy Freeman happy to hear concern from the also once lefthanded slugger. He is, as was nice-guy Mattingly, a fancy fielder, and so the two relate well to each other. Recently, they traded compliments, Freeman saying that Mattingly has done a great job with the surprising, never-figuring Marlins, and Mattingly countering that Freeman should be the league’s MVP.

Well, how about that? It became a perfect call by both. On Wednesday, Mattingly won, on Thursday, Freeman won. Now there can be no doubt expected congratulations coming from both, if they haven’t done it already.

In the American League voting, it was the Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash who was the winner. For Most Valuable Player, it went to first baseman Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Six. Great deserving honors for both, but it was the National League’s choice of Mattingly and Freeman, both in the Eastern Division, that brought the most attention. Who figured Mattingly’s young Marlins to be in the hunt for the playoffs, where they landed and continued on until swept and eliminated by the Braves and the bat of Freeman?

At that time, there were no discussions of post-season honors, but it was the time for Freeman and Mattingly to move their face masks aside and respond with a hug behind home plate the final out. No good luck offered in regard to the post-season honors, but when it neared voting time, the two were heard from, and who figured Freeman would report to the club a day before the opener, bouncing around and feeling fine after testing negative twice, but he did, and quickly he responded with his bat, his defense, and his leadership.

Mattingly’s 31-29 record was his first winning campaign in his five years with the club. In his prior five years managing the Los Angeles Dodgers, they were all winning seasons. After Miami lost 105 times the previous season, its new year was nearly derailed by a coronavirus outbreak during the first weekend of play at the Philadelphia Phillies. The team had to make 174 roster moves but still managed the franchise’s first winning record since 2009.

The steady hand of Mattingly played a huge role in the turnaround that continued in the playoffs. Miami ousted the league-champion Chicago Cubs in the first round before being swept by Atlanta as Freeman batted .423, homered three times, drove home 11 runs, and made his usual defensive stops. Thus, Mattingly became the first Manager of the Year for the Marlins since Joe Gerald, now with the Phils, in 2006. He was also named MVP when with the Yankees in 1985. He is the fifth person to win MVP and Manager of the Year.

“They’re just different,” Mattingly said. “The first one feels personal and this one feels more like a team thing. But that’s why I’m proud of both because we’ve struggled here for a number of years, and for us to move forward is important, and I think this is a sign that we’re heading in that direction. This was a team I’m very proud of, they played hard in every game, never quit, came back to win late in games, and were just a pleasure to manage.”

Second to Mattingly was the San Diego Padres’ Jayce Tingler, and third was David Ross of the Chicago Cubs.

As for Cash, who turns 43 on Dec. 8, hit .183 with a dozen home runs and 58 RBI in 246 Major League games as a catcher for five teams that included Tampa Bay, became an advance scout for the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays after retiring from play, and joined Terry Francona’s staff in Cleveland as the bullpen coach.

He was hired as Rays’ manager the day before his 37th birthday. He finished third in the balloting for Manager of the Year his first two years, and now becomes the franchise’s first winner of the award since Joe Madden in 2010. He is now 454-416 in his six seasons with the Rays. This season, Tampa Bay won its first AL East title for the first time since Cash took over, and his club had a 40-20 league-best record during this pandemic campaign. It lost in the World Series to the Dodgers in six games.

Freeman was very concerned when he learned he tested positive. Said he offered a little prayer, “I wasn’t ready.” In late July, his body temperature spiked to 104,5 and he lost his sense of taste and smell.

“It impacted me pretty hard,” he said after learning he was named the MVP, “and it took me a few weeks into the season to find my footing. But my return got the team all fired up, and that helped. Then I started straying the ball all over the field and feeling like I was back. I was greeted by the team every time I arrived at the ballpark and that was a great pick-me-up. Then I heard from Don Mattingly a number of times, and he said he was rooting for me.”

With his bat, Freeman hit .341, clouted 13 home runs, knocked in 53 runs, added 23 doubles and scored 51 runs while playing in all 60 games. He received 28 of the 30 first place votes, and also a $185,185 bonus award from the club. He became the sixth Atlanta player to win the MVP, the last being third baseman Chipper Jones in 1999, and Braves 2-time winner, Dale Murphy, announced Freeman’s award on the MLB Network Thursday.

“During the season I wore a battered T-shirt under my uniform shirt,” said 4-time All-Star Freeman, “and it was given to me by Chipper. After all my suffering, and all my prayers from myself and my family and friends, I’m thankful for coming through, and I’m thankful for the support from my teammates, the coaches, the trainers, and the front office, and of course Don Mattingly.”

Right fielder Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers was second and received the other two first place votes. Third was third baseman Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres.

The 33-year-old Abreu, Rookie of the Year in 2014, was surrounded by his family when the announcement came over the television. He said he teared up. The third Cuban to win the honor, it also brought him a franchise bonus of $37,033. He had a super shortened season with his bat, hitting .317, belting 19 home runs, driving home 60 runs, coming away with 148 total bases, having 76 hits, a slugging average of ,617, and in a 3-game series against the city-rival Chicago Cubs, homered six times.

His teammate, third baseman Jose Ramirez, finished second ahead of Yankees’ infielder DJ LeMahieu. Abreu received 22 of the 30 first place votes, five went to Ramirez and three to LeMahieu, who is now a free agent, and behind Cash in the voting was Rick Renteria, who was fired as White Sox manager after he took the club to the playoffs for the first time since 2008, and third went to the Toronto Blue Jays’ Charlie Montoyo.

The voting is made by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, and is conducted prior to the playoffs.