Mets' Carlos Mendoza finishes third in NL Manager of the Year voting

Days before the Mets ended the Brewers’ season in early October, edging them in a dramatic best-of-three first round series and sneaking deeper into the playoffs, the Brewers beat the Mets in another contest — the results of which were revealed just Tuesday.

Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy was the runaway winner of the NL Manager of the Year Award, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced. He earned 27 first-place votes (144 points overall) and was the only person named on all 30 ballots, which were cast before the start of the postseason.

The Padres’ Mike Shildt was second with a lone first-place vote and 70 points. The Mets’ Carlos Mendoza finished third with one first-place vote and 35 points.

Mendoza, hired away from the Yankees, for whom he had most recently been bench coach, and Murphy, who previously was Craig Counsell’s bench coach with the Brewers, both just completed their first season on the job. And both were hired after Counsell turned down their teams at the start of last offseason in favor of a record contract — reportedly five years and $40 million — with the Cubs.

Although Mendoza seemed to have a strong case for a better result than a distant third place, the voting results might be best explained by the thought process of modern voters, who absent hard numbers often are swayed by a team’s performance relative to preseason expectations. That is especially true when a team has a new manager, as the Brewers, Padres and Mets did.

The Mets, at the start of the year, looked like a fringe playoff team — and proved to be just that, going 89-73 and nabbing the last NL wild-card spot on the final day of the regular season.

Their path to that point, though, was wild. They were 24-33 at the end of May, then went 65-40 — the best record in the majors — from June 1 on.

“Mendy did a tremendous job,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said last month. “The consistency [with which] he presented himself, his ability to be the same person every day regardless of what was going on. That was true when he and I were by ourselves in his office talking through things, and it was true when he was out here in front of you and the cameras.”

Murphy said of Mendoza: “His team rose to the occasion when he whipped them.”

The Brewers, meanwhile, seemed to be resetting after five playoff appearances in six seasons. They traded their ace, Corbin Burnes, shortly before spring training. They were without starter Brandon Woodruff all year because of a shoulder injury, and closer Devin Williams missed the first four months because of a back injury. They were loaded with young, unproven players.

Then they went 93-69 and cruised to an NL Central title.

Was it a testament to Murphy’s managerial acumen that the Brewers were good? Does Mendoza deserve the credit for the Mets’ turnaround? And/or the blame for their miserable start?

It’s impossible to say with certainty.

“You can’t measure that stuff,” Murphy said. “That’s the beauty of what we do compared to other parts of baseball where you can quantify everything. The beauty of coaching is you don’t really know the impact you have. You just keep going.”

Guardians' Vogt best in AL

The Guardians’ Stephen Vogt, also a rookie, won AL Manager of the Year, nabbing 27 first-place votes after leading his team to the AL Central title. The Royals’ Matt Quatraro came in second, the Tigers’ A.J. Hinch third.

Aaron Boone, who led the Yankees to a league-leading 94 wins and an AL East title, finished tied for fifth, receiving one second-place vote.

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.