Pat Murphy and Mike Shildt are the other two NL finalists.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza has been named a Manager of the Year finalist for the National League, along with Brewers manager Pat Murphy and Padres skipper Mike Shildt. The last Mets manager to win Manager of the Year was Mendoza’s predecessor Buck Showalter in 2022.
Mendoza was named the 25th manager in team history a year ago, coming over to the Mets from the Yankees, where he spent 15 years and was serving as the bench coach. The Venezuela native now enters the second year of his three-year contract as manager with another credential to add to his resume.
Mendoza’s first season as a big league manager did not start off well with the Mets beginning the season 0-5 and falling to a season-low 11 games under .500 on June 2. But as Gary Cohen famously declared when the Mets punched their ticket to the postseason, the 2024 Mets went “from 0-5 to OMG,” going on a miraculous run in the second half to make the playoffs on the last day of the regular season. After their low mark in early June, the Mets went 65-38 the rest of the way and were among the best teams in baseball. They also seemed to play their best baseball with their backs against the wall with 41 comeback victories and a 28-16 record in one-run games—the best mark in baseball.
That “never say die” attitude carried over to the playoffs with Pete Alonso’s now legendary go-ahead three-run homer in Game 3 of the Wild Card series to defeat fellow finalist Pat Murphy’s Brewers to advance to the NLDS. The Mets defeated the Phillies in four games in the NLDS to advance to the NLCS in which they fell to the eventual World Champion Dodgers in six games.
“He communicates well with the players,” Brandon Nimmo said of Mendoza after the Mets’ NLDS victory. “Carlos is extremely gifted in his expertise of being around teams and how to get them to pull on the same side of the rope and being able to lift guys up and also challenge people at the same time.”
Overcoming the struggles that the Mets did to snag a Wild Card berth and make it all the way to Game 6 of the NLCS is a testament in part to Mendoza’s clubhouse leadership and he is being credited for that by being named a finalist for Manager of the Year. The winner of the award will be announced on Tuesday, November 19.
