Bourissa Hills' Zach Rehlander and Mishawaka's Ryan Warmoth win 2021 Manager of the Year Awards

Throughout the week, the Old Republic Wiffleball League will be handing out its yearly honors. Today we announce the winners of the 2021 American and National League Manager of the Year Awards. The Manager of the Year Awards are presented annually to the top managers in each league.

Managers voted for their top three in each category for both the American and National League. Players/Managers received 3 points for a 1st place vote, 2 points for a 2nd place vote, and 1 point for a 3rd place vote. The votes were then added up to determine the winner of each award. At the end of the week once all votes are handed out, the ballots will be made public.

Starting in the American League, it was the Bourissa Hills Wildcards skipper Zach Rehlander who received the most votes with 24 as he narrowly edged out Flat Rock's Mark Richards (23) and Maple City's Alex Friedman (22). In what was our tightest vote of all of the awards, Rehlander came out on top as he takes home his 2nd consecutive American League Manager of the Year Award.

Rehlander led the Wildcards to their 2nd consecutive winning season as they finished the regular season with a 16-14 record. Rehlander made a massive splash before the trade deadline as he made a huge trade deadline deal with the Flat Rock Cyclones where he acquired MVP candidate Tyler Shupert.

There is no doubt that Rehlander's willingness to work at the deadline helped his cause as he shocked the league with that blockbuster trade. Although awards were voted on before the postseason began, Rehlander helped his cause out even more in the ALDS as his 4th seeded Wildcards eliminated the top seeded Flat Rock Cyclones to advance to their first American League Championship Series since they changed their name from the Pterodactyls to the Wildcards.

Moving on to the National League, it was Mishawaka Meatspins Manager Ryan Warmoth who received the most votes with 28. After making the switch from the American to the National League prior to this season, the Meatspins have turned themselves into legitimate World Series contenders and Warmoth certainly has a lot to do with that and not just because of his performance on the field.

Over the past few years, Warmoth has been piecing together what is now one of the most deepest and talented rosters in all of the league. Warmoth has added loads of veteran talent with major Wiffleball experience who have all seemed to buy in to what the team is trying to accomplish.

He managed to get the majority of the roster solid playing time and was able to lead the Meatspins to a successful 19-11 season despite having many different lineups throughout the course of the year. On top of that, he also was very timely getting his stats and ballots in as he was always one of the first to do so.

Warmoth and the Meatspins will now look to continue their magical season as they will take on the Granger Panthers in the National League Championship Series. You can be assured that the Warmoth led Meatspins will be bringing a competitive team out there as they hope to secure a spot in the 2021 ORWBL World Series.

Tomorrow, awards week continues as we will announce the American and National League Cy Young Award winners. Here is the full list of players to have received a vote for the Manager of the Year Awards. All of the Managers ballots will be made public once all awards are handed out.

American League Manager of the Year Award: