THATS MY MANAGER!!!! Brandon Hyde Is Your 2023 AL Manager Of The Year!
Before you jump down my throat and say "BRUCE BOCHY WON THE WORLD SERIES HE SHOULD HAVE WON MANAGER OF THE YEAR"....this is a regular season award so wipe the Cheetos dust off your keyboard and sit back down dorks. Brandon Hyde has been a huge part of why this team has gone from over 100 losses just 2 years ago to 101 wins and an AL East crown this year. Yes, the club fell flat on their face in the playoffs and that is the ultimate goal, that World Series Championship...but this window for the Orioles is just starting to crack open and Hyde is going to be the guy that leads them there. No doubt in my mind. Fans love him, media loves him, players love him and play their asses off for him and he gets rewarded with the MOY award in what has been the best year for Orioles baseball since 2016.
This division was done and over with at the end of April, the Rays got off to a record start and left everyone in the dust. Then the injuries and off the field stuff happened with them. They were like .500 the rest of the way after May I believe and all the Orioles did was stack wins, navigate their way through the season and come out on top of the division. Hyde is a huge part in that. And to the select group of fans who HATE him because he isn't the perfect manager, just be quiet. It's obvious this guy knows what he's doing. No he isn't going to make the right bullpen move every time, sometimes he does bat guys where he wants them to hit and not where you want them to hit, but he's a damn good manager and obviously has earned the respect of his peers, the media, and players.
Obviously it helps when your farm system is loaded with top prospects but the Orioles have been one of the best teams in baseball in the last 2 seasons and Hyde has been at the helm. It was thought that he would be the lame duck manager who would see them through the bad years and fire him to hire some hot shot, but he is he hot shot. The O's didn't have the most injuries this year but losing the best closer in baseball for the last month, losing Cedric Mullins for stretches during the year, and having a pitching staff made up of young guys and some no-namers and having the year they had should be recognized.
101 wins in a division that NO ONE PICKED THEM TO WIN with an owner who tried to royally fuck the season up several times and having a payroll that little? How could it not have been Brandon Hyde? Vegas had the over/under for the O's at 76.5, they cleared that in like late April. He won it in a runaway too, 27 of 30 first place votes, it wasn't close. Robbed of it last year, he takes home the award this year. It was a good top 3 too, Kevin Cash and the Rays had an insanely strange and up and down season, Bruce Bochy and the Rangers were a wagon before coming down to earth in the 2nd half only to become the hottest playoff team ever and win it all. Again, this award doesn't mean much in the scheme of things but to see Hyde get recognized by the writers and everyone in baseball is awesome. All things considered he seems like a great guy and very well respected around baseball, from a guy who had one of the worst career records just a few years ago, this is a cool night for him. Hope he takes some time to enjoy it, we got World Series to win next baby.