Buck Showalter Is Your 2022 National League Manager Of The Year

I admit that Buck winning this award would've hit a lot different if the Mets season didn't burst into flames over the last week or it was given out at a time when people outside of Meek Phill and Chris Castellani wake up thinking about baseball. But I am still thrilled my guy Buck took home the hardware because he truly deserved it. 

For years we have heard how little the manager matters in modern baseball as the supernerds in the front office push all the levers their Excel sheets tell them to push. However as someone that watched countless Mets teams operate with managers that constantly fucked up with what they said to the media, the fans, or having the team BAT OUT OF ORDER, watching Buck take charge of the ship was like watching my team go from having crackheads as parents to Claire and Phil Dunphy as parents.

Buck almost always made the right move by the book, flat out knew the rules of baseball better than the umpires, and just so happened to skipper a team that improved 24 wins for a cool 101 win season. He was also able to give the perfect answers to the New York media with his awww shucks demeanor as he pivoted from a cliche to a fun story while also not pissing off Mets fans that are always looking for a reason to be angry, and even sometimes making us laugh.

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Buck's biggest flaw was not killing one of the pitchers that hit his batters on the Mets way to setting the all-time hit by pitch record, which just may have stopped Mitch Thomas Keller from fracturing Starling Marte's finger which in turn fractured the Mets offense at the end of the season. Hopefully Buck will attempt to murder the first pitcher that brushes back a Met so we don't have a repeat of last season, but not actually kill anybody because losing a manager to a murder bid midseason will be tough for any team to bounce back from. 

I know people got mad that he asked to check Joe Musgrove's ears that were shiny enough to be seen from space. But watching what started as a crazy Twitter conspiracy theory actually get called out during a playoff game was incredible. Or at least as incredible as it can be as you watch your favorite team get one hit as a 101 win season bleeds out in front of the entire country.

Anyway, congrats on the win William Nathaniel "Buck" Showalter III. I'll have your girl Shakira play us out.