Previously, we just saw that the Cardinals have played 10 times in the National League Championship Series since 2000. And, I want to go a little bit deeper to see those managers who had done a great job in the LCS in baseball history.
First of all, let’s look at those managers who managed teams in the American League. As a manager, Joe Torre had a very successful career with 2326 wins and led the Yankees to win the World Series title 4 times. Additionally, under his leadership, the Yankees won 27 games in the ALCS and won the AL pennant 6 times. In the short-term, it will not be easy to see a manager reach Joe Torre’s record. However, Joe Torre didn’t lead a team to win the NL pennant in his managerial career. Moreover, Terry Francona, Tony LaRussa and Earl Weaver each had 15 ALCS wins in their managerial careers. Francona led the Red Sox to advance to the Fall Classic twice and the Red Sox won two World Series titles. Tony LaRussa led the Oakland Athletics to win 3 AL pennants and won the World Series title in 1989. Earl Weaver had been the Orioles’ manager for 17 seasons and under his leadership, the Orioles won AL pennant 4 times and became the World Champions in 1970.Now, let’s take a look at the skippers in the National League. Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox won more than 2500 games in his managerial career. He led the Braves to win the 1995 World Series title. In his career, he led the Braves to win 28 games in the NLCS. Cox had been the Braves’ manager for 25 years and the Braves won the NL pennant 5 times. Furthermore, Tony LaRussa used to be the Cardinals’ skipper for 16 years and the Cardinals won 2 World Series titles during this period. However, the Cardinals actually took more losses than wins in the NLCS over these 16 years. Bruce Bochy’s managerial career is definitely worth remembering. He used to be the Padres manager for 12 years and later on, he led the Giants for 13 years. Over these 25 years, he took 2003 wins and 2029 losses. Nonetheless, in the NLCS, he had 16 wins and lost only 8 times. Bochy led the Padres to win the NL pennant in 1998. And, the Giants won three World Series titles under Bochy’s leadership. Meanwhile, Dave Roberts has the same record as Tommy Lasorda did in the NLCS. Sparky Anderson led the Big Red Machine to win back-to-back World Series Champions in 1975 and 1976. Anderson led the Reds for 9 years and they only lost 5 times in the NLCS.
League Championship Series began in 1969 as a best-of-five playoff and the format was changed to best-of-seven games in 1985. It’s never easy to lead a team to win the league pennant. In the postseason, there are so many uncertainties and no one can easily secure a win. Joe Torre had a great managerial career as a Yankees manager, but he never won any NL pennants. Bobby Cox took more losses than wins in the NLCS. In the 2022 season, can we see Tony LaRussa or Terry Francona gain more wins in the ALCS? Will Dave Roberts surpass Tommy Lasorda in wins of the NLCS?
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