Is Bruce Bochy the Best Manager in Baseball?

San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy wins. And he wins all the time. Even given the fact that the Giants aren’t the most talented team in baseball, Bochy has won the last two-out-of-three World Series. Before taking the helm of the Giants, he was the manager of the San Diego Padres, where he managed very competitive teams despite a glut in talent.

You can always expect his teams are ready to play. They play smart and aggressive baseball. There is no secret to what the Giants do, except win. While it helps to have a strong pitching staff and role players up-and-down the lineup, it is more a matter of how he gets the most out of his personnel. It’s a credit to how well he understands winning baseball.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have spent A LOT of money this offseason. While the Giants aren’t exactly a small-market team, they’re not going to be able to keep up with the Dodgers’ spending. As long as the Giants have Bochy and his master-strategizing, they’ll stick around through the pennant race. This rivalry is starting to resemble the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. As we know, the Yankees would outspend everyone in an attempt to win. The Red Sox, while not cheap, tried to do things a bit more creatively.

2013 will be a fun year in the NL West. The Giants and Dodgers will be there in the end, and they’re going to fighting down until the end of the season. Don’t be surprised if Bochy has something up his sleeve for the Dodgers.