Jays’ Montoyo and Ryu finalists for awards

TORONTO, Ont. — In the most challenging of Major League Baseball seasons, it would be difficult to find a manager who faced more adversity than the Blue Jays’ Charlie Montoyo.

From steering a team that spent the entire 60-game season living out of hotels, to a group beset by injuries, to playing the home portion of the season in a minor-league stadium, there wasn’t an easy day for the second-year manager.

But helping the Jays to overcome all those hurdles, plus rebound from a 95-loss season into a playoff berth, helped earn Montoyo enough votes to be named a finalist for the 2020 American League manager of the year.

Montoyo is up against one of his mentors and skipper of the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays, Kevin Cash, and the since-fired Chicago White Sox bench boss Rick Renteria.

Among other award finalists announced by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Monday, Jays ace starter Hyun-jin Ryu was named one of the final three in AL Cy Young Award voting. Ryu is up against heavy favourite Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Indians and Kenta Maeda of the Minnesota Twins.

Though it would have been difficult for voters to overlook Cash’s season, one which he led the Rays to a 40-20 record and an AL East title, the poise and professionalism in which Montoyo steered the Jays was impressive.

The Jays finished third in the division with a 32-28 record, but began the season by spending the first two-plus weeks on the road. When they finally settled into Buffalo, they were confined to a downtown hotel and Sahlen Field for their “home” portion of the schedule, but made the best of it.

“I’m so proud of my players who faced the season head on without complaints,” Montoyo said in a statement from the team.