On July 25, 2020, the Miami Marlins were informed three of their players tested positive for COVID19. That included Jose Urena, who was supposed to start the following day.

At that point, as noted by Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Marlins, who had been in close contact with one another, opted not to quarantine as per MLB and CDC protocols. No, instead, the Marlins opted to play their game against the Phillies.

Now, there was a pandemic. The Marlins were based in a city considered a hot spot. According, to Marlins manager Don Mattingly, he and his team never hesitated in their decision not to play:

Mattingly post game after several #Marlins players test positive for Covid-19: "Never really considered not playing from my standpoint. We're taking risks everyday, everyday we're taking risks. That's what the players all around the league are doing." pic.twitter.com/8xL16CsF1Y

— Mike Cugno (@MikeCugnoCBS4) July 26, 2020

From there, the three Marlins who tested positive grew to 20. The Philadelphia Phillies would see members of their organization test positive. The Marlins would not be permitted to play in a game for over a week.

The schedules of the Phillies, Yankees, Nationals, and Marlins were also screwed up. That happened because Mattingly and his players didn’t remotely care about the health and safety of their opponents and the low level staffers who they come into contact.

Mattingly and the Marlins team he was supposed to lead jeopardized the entire 2020 season in a completely selfish act. Worse than that, they put the health of many in jeopardy.

It wasn’t just the Phillies. It was the people who were still working in the visitors’ clubhouse. It was the people at their hotel. It was the unlucky person who had to drive the sick players on sleeper busses back to Miami.

Through it all, Mattingly showed reckless abandon both for the MLB season and for the health of his players. He didn’t care about the health of the other 29 teams or all the human beings his team would come into contact.

When you exhibit you don’t care about whether your season is actually played or the health of thousands of people, you should not receive awards or accolades. Instead, Mattingly should’ve been fined and suspended with the Marlins wondering if this is really the person they want to lead their team in the future.

By giving your vote to Mattingly for Manager of the Year, you’re rewarding his sheer recklessness and complete lack of decency. You’re actually rewarding someone actively trying to stop the 2020 season from being played.

Voting for that is absurd. There are many other managers who had great years and who managed not to threaten the health of people or the season. Those managers deserve the votes. Not Mattingly.