(Every week we will take a look at one award and break down the race on who we think the favorites are. One week we will breakdown MOY, the next week ROY, following week MVP. And then we keep rotating until the voting is done at the end of season)
What makes an SASL Manager of the Year? The winner is almost always the boss of one of the very best teams in the league. Last year in the American League Ali Ghumman/John Sans won for HeavyHittaz who finished as the second seed. In the National League last year Ronak Jain/Aasheesh Shravah won and they also finished as the second seed. In 2018 we had Saad Yousuf of undefeated The Mighty Ducks won the award. Sajid Kakana led his Dyansty team in the National League 2018 to a third place finish and the MOY.
Voters usually look for teams that have very good records that seem like they overachieved their talent level. Usually voters also take into account the retooling of a roster during the offseason and early on the season as well.
Managers of the Year:
1. Charley Robinson/Irfan Musliwala (The North): ↔️
The North at 14-2 are at the top of the standings with only 3 weeks left in the regular season. The team has been running very smooth with all players understanding and playing their roles effectively thus far. They have a tough schedule to finish the season (Dothrakis and Dynasty on the docket) but as captains, Charley and Irfan has gotten the most of their players. The biggest improvement front early on the season has been their defense which started as one of the worst and now has the best defensive metrics in the League.
2. Sajid Kakana/Gaurav Bhasin (Dynasty): ⬆️ 2 Spots
The duo of Sajid and Gaurav have been captains for the better part of the decade on Dynasty. There is a lot of pressure on them this year to win it all and they have gone thru some ups and downs. Thru it all they are just 2 games behind first place and have only 4 losses all season. They continue to fight back week after week and their doubters are becoming more and more silent. It looks like they have settled on an ideal lineup and defense right now, and it must be a wonderful feeling for everyone on the team to know what is expected out of them.
3. Pavy Badwal/Sunny Naveed (Dothrakis): Unranked
It is never easy to run a rookie team but Pavy/Sunny has managed to do so as well as anyone could have asked for. Hashim and Andy are the on-field leaders in the infield/outfield and are having great seasons. The teams energy and motivation looks to be at their peak with the playoffs coming next month. There was debate early on the season if the mix of some volatile characters would undermine their season, but we haven’t noticed any clubhouse disruptions and they genuinely seem to be rooting for one another. There is still room to grow as Dothrakis haven’t gotten usual production from players like Pervez, Gage, etc.
4. Ali Najimi/Ammad Sheikh (Hit Squad): ⬇️ 1 Spot
These two managers Ali and Ammad have won the Manager of the Year awards before and for good reason. They never seem to panic when things are going bad and they never get too high when things are going good. Their even keeled approach does wonders to keep Hit Squad rolling thru the peaks and valleys of any season. Currently they are dealing with a rash of injuries and some lull in their offense. They are 5-5 over their last ten but they still sit 4th in standings with 3 weeks to go. While they are getting very good years from some newcomers like Vivek, Ishaq etc., they need to coax better results out of their stars in Ramy, Ahmad, Ankit, and Ramin who are all having subpar years compared to their usual lofty standards.
5. Zulfikar Musliwala/Aasheesh Shravah (Shooter McGavins): Unranked
A month ago, did anyone think we would see Shooter McGavins captains on this list? They started the season off 0-6 and looked terribly out of sync. They deserved the criticism they got for not having the troops ready to play with almost no preseason action. But since then, they are a league best 8-2 with impressive sweeps against Black Mambas and Troopers. Zulfikar and Aasheesh got the buy in from their top players which was missing early in the season and as a team they seem to be getting hot just at the right time. Believe it or not, they are now only 1 game behind third place!
Fallen Off The List: Salman Quader/Sajeel Haque (MonStars) and Azhar Naqvi/Ayaz Dar (Black Mambas)
