Most major league managers don’t participate in the nightly exchange of lineup cards prior to first pitch, preferring instead to hand off that assignment to various members of the coaching staff. When it came time for the traditional ritual Tuesday night at Nationals Park, both team’s skippers absolutely made sure they were the ones making their way toward home plate.

For the Nationals’ Miguel Cairo and the Mets’ Carlos Mendoza, this was no ordinary ballgame. This was history: The first time two Venezuelans managed against each other in a major league game. And when they greeted each other shortly before first pitch at 6:45 p.m. and posed for photos, it absolutely meant something to each man.

“I got chills,” Cairo said following the Nats’ 8-1 loss. “Because it was cool to see countrymen being managers in the big leagues at the same time playing together.”

There have been only four Venezuelan-born managers in big league history. Ozzie Guillén was the most well-known, the bombastic former shortstop managing the White Sox from 2004-11 and the Marlins in 2012. Al Pedrique took over the Diamondbacks during the 2004 season after Bob Brenly was fired but wasn’t retained that winter.

Cairo has now twice been promoted from bench coach to interim manager, first in 2022 with the White Sox after Tony La Russa went on medical leave, and of course this summer with Nationals after Davey Martinez was fired. Mendoza, meanwhile, was hired by the Mets last year and proceeded to lead them to the National League Championship Series.

Voting for the annual Baseball Writers' Association of America awards is hardly easy. There is a lot of pressure when filling out your ballot because of the pedigree and history that are attached to the awards.

If there was an “easy” one of the four, it would probably be Manager of the Year.

When it comes down to Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player, there are so many statistics that can be used to compare and contrast the candidates. It sometimes comes down to which ones the voters value more, and that often changes (i.e. the emergence of sabermetric numbers over the last decade).

But for Manager of the Year, there is really only one stat that matters: Record. Then that is often balanced against a team’s expectations coming into the season and any hardships they had to endure (roster changes, injuries, prolonged slumps, etc.).

Voters also take a team’s talent level into consideration. Dave Roberts may never win another Manager of the Year award because the Dodgers are always loaded with MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year candidates with World Series-or-bust aspirations.