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Mets manager Terry Collins is one of three National League nominees for the Manager of the Year award, which will be announced tonight. The winners are traditionally difficult to predict given the variety of factors involved—including both a team's inherent talent and its luck in avoiding injury—but the award often goes to the managers whose teams most exceeded expectations. The 2015 nominees are as follows:
National League
Terry Collins, New York Mets: The Mets were not expected to make it as far as they did this season, particularly against the highly-favored Washington Nationals. But with some key mid-season trades and several winning streaks, and Collins keeping it all together, the Mets won the NL East and earned their first trip to the World Series since 2000.
Joe Maddon, Chicago Cubs: Maddon had a very strong first season with the Cubs after his departure from the Tampa Bay Rays. He managed a rookie-heavy team with a shallow bullpen and brought them to the National League Championship Series.
Mike Matheny, St. Louis Cardinals: Matheny has proven himself a strong manager, having led the Cardinals to the postseason in each of his four seasons. This year they made it despite strong opponents and several key players—including Adam Wainwright, Matt Holliday, and Matt Adams—having missed significant time to injury.
American League
Jeff Banister, Texas Rangers: The Rangers moved from last to first in the AL West despite injury of star starter Yu Darvish during spring training. They finished out the season with 88 wins.
A.J. Hinch, Houston Astros: The Astros have been undergoing a several season rebuild, which means the team is talented but young. Hinch helped guide them to the postseason for the first time since 2006.
Paul Molitor, Minnesota Twins: Though the team had a collective bottom-five MLB batting average and Ervin Santana out 80 games for performance enhancing drugs, the Twins still made it to the very end of the season, earning 83 wins.
The winners are chosen by a 28-member board comprised of members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. The decision will be announced between 6:00 and 7:00 PM EST.