NL Manager of the Year Rankings: Don Mattingly and the Top 5 Early Contenders

You don't really need a good manager in order to win baseball games. As Sparky Anderson once said, managers are necessary evils. He also said that no manager ever won a pennant. Talented players win pennants, not managers.

But, you know what? Having a good manager definitely doesn't hurt a team's chances. After all, you need a guy to make sure the talented players don't run amok. A good manager can be the difference between a first-place finish and a second-place finish in the long run.

We won't truly know who the best managers in baseball are until the end of the year, but we can take a moment to size up the managers who are doing a great job early in the season. There are a few of those in the National League, each of whom has an early claim to the NL Manager of the Year award.

Here are my top-five favorites for the award so far.

5. Terry Collins, New York Mets

Entering Friday, the New York Mets are 13-12 and in third place in the NL East. They've been decent, but they're not exactly off to a blistering start.

So why does Terry Collins make the cut?

To put it bluntly, he made the cut because I'm freakin' amazed that the Mets are above .500 so far this season. Given the talent (or lack thereof) they have on their roster, the Mets should be a train wreck.

The raw numbers say the Mets aren't a very good team. They're 19th in the majors in runs scored and 25th in team ERA. Their starting rotation has a 4.43 ERA—third-highest in the National League.

Make no mistake about it; the Mets are overachieving. Somebody has to get credit for that, and that somebody may as well be Terry Collins. 

My guess is Collins won't be in the MOTY picture a month from now. But for the time being, he deserves some props.

4. Don Mattingly, Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers have been the most pleasant surprise in the National League so far this season. They're up to 17 wins, and they have a comfortable lead over the field in the National League West.

Don Mattingly is the man in charge in Los Angeles, and he's done a fine job this season. He clearly has the support of his players, and he has them believing they can win.

You're probably thinking Mattingly should be higher on this list, as surely the man in charge of the NL's most surprising team deserves to be No. 1—or at least No. 2.

I think not. With all respect to Mattingly, the Dodgers are where they are thanks mainly to the brilliance of Matt Kemp, the return to form of Andre Ethier and a starting rotation that has an ERA a smidge over 3.00.

Mattingly's leadership has helped, but the Dodgers are atop the National League because of their talent.

3. Fredi Gonzalez, Atlanta Braves

I was trying to think of a good way to describe the Atlanta Braves, but then I realized that Fredi Gonzalez came up with a perfect description before the season was even underway.

Via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "We’re not a glamorous team. No, we didn’t go out and make a move for a big-time player, but maybe we’re more like hyenas," Gonzalez said.

It took a little while for the Braves to start playing like hyenas, as they opened the season by losing four in a row.

Since then, the Braves are 15-7, and they definitely looked like a pack of hyenas when they outlasted the Philadelphia Phillies in extra innings on Wednesday.

The Braves have fed off of Gonzalez much like the Dodgers have fed off of Mattingly, but Gonzalez is dealing with a team that hasn't been at full strength all season. The Braves had to wait for Chipper Jones and Tim Hudson to come back after both started the season hurt, and Gonzalez has also had to deal with the Jair Jurrjens situation.

Gonzalez has kept the team together, and he has them playing well. He deserves some props.

2. Davey Johnson, Washington Nationals

When you have a starting rotation that has an ERA in the low 2.00s, it's easy to win ballgames.

But don't let that cloud your perception of Nationals manager Davey Johnson. Great pitching has led the Nationals to the top of the NL East, but Johnson has kept this team on the right track through some pretty rough circumstances.

The Nats haven't been at full strength all season. They started the year without star slugger Michael Morse and standout closer Drew Storen, and they have since lost former All-Star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and veteran reliever Brad Lidge.

Yet, the Nats are chugging right along. They have one of the best records in the National League, and that's despite going through a recent five-game losing streak.

The Nats have had some swagger going since before the season even began, and that's something that you can trace back to Johnson.

Just imagine how good this team will be once it gets healthy.

1. Mike Matheny, St. Louis Cardinals

At the start of the season, no manager in baseball was in a tougher spot than Mike Matheny. He was replacing a future Hall of Famer in Tony La Russa, the Cardinals had lost the great Albert Pujols to free agency over the offseason, and they started the season knowing that ace pitcher Chris Carpenter was going to be on the shelf for a long time.

Circumstances like these would have crushed a lesser manager. Matheny, apparently, is not a lesser manager.

The Cardinals have been much, much better than advertised under Matheny. In fact, the Cardinals look better under him this season than they looked under La Russa at any point during the regular season last year.

It helps that Matheny has the NL's best offense and one of the NL's best pitching staffs at his disposal, to be sure. But, Matheny has had to push buttons this season, and he's pushed them as expertly as his predecessor used to.

The Cardinals could not have asked for the post-Pujols, post-La Russa era to get off to a better start. And for that, the credit goes to Matheny.