(AP) – Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash became the second skipper to win Manager of the Year honors in back-to-back seasons, taking the American League award Tuesday night.

Cash led the low-payroll Rays to a second consecutive AL East crown. Tampa Bay (100-62) finished with the AL’s best record before losing to Boston in the Division Series.

Bobby Cox had been the only person to win Manager of the Year two straight seasons, doing it with Atlanta in 2004-05.

The Rays made it to the World Series in 2020, but Cash came under criticism for removing starting pitcher Blake Snell in the final game. But if anything, quick hooks like that were a fairly normal strategy in this year’s postseason — perhaps another example of Cash and Tampa Bay being ahead of the curve on new ways to approach the game.

Seattle’s Scott Servais finished second behind Cash in the voting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Houston’s Dusty Baker was third.

Charlie Montoyo of the Blue Jays was fourth, followed by Alex Cora of the Red Sox, Tony La Russa of the White Sox and A.J. Hinch of the Tigers.

Cash received 19 of the 30 first-place votes.

Former Rays player and current San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler won the NL Manager of the Year award.