The Orioles turnaround in the 2012 season was stunning to everyone in baseball - except perhaps the Orioles themselves - including an armada of national baseball writers who refused to respect the Orioles' success for the vast majority of the season, if at all. Yet when the dust cleared, manager Buck Showalter led them to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, against seemingly all odds.
When the dust cleared on the American League Manager of the Year award voting, revealed Tuesday night on the MLB Network, Showalter came up just short - out of 28 ballots cast, he was named in first-place on 12 and second-place on 16, but Oakland manager Bob Melvin received 16 first-place votes and 12 second-place votes.
Oakland was the other big surprise team in the American League, and they have their own success stories, including keeping together a rotation with so many rookies. Can we say he's undeserving? No, we cannot. But it would have been nice to see Buck win all the same.
Then again, on second thought, who needs the validation of the media? We watched this season with our own eyes, and we know what Buck and the team meant to all of us. He may not have gotten the hardware from the BBWAA, but that doesn't make the 2012 season any less special.
Had Buck won the award, it would have been his third time winning with three different teams. He also won the award when he was with Texas and with the Yankees.
If you're interested in seeing the ballot-by-ballot breakdown, you can view it on the BBWAA site.