With Surprising Season Over, What's Next for Banister?

What Jeff Banister did in 2015 should be heavily commended, and on Tuesday it was when he was given the AL Manager of the Year award by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

So, the first question now is: What's he have in store for an encore?

Things will be much different in 2016 than they were in 2015, when the Rangers entered the season having totally been written off following the loss of Yu Darvish for the season. And that was before they lost Derek Holland for four months after just one inning pitched.

They were playing as the forgotten team for much of 2015, and the pressure was low. Give them a lot of credit for doing what they did, but it was not a pressure-packed season.

Next year will be far different coming in as the defending AL West champions with good Astros and Angels teams giving chase and a Mariners squad that surely has to be better than it was in 2015, when it failed to live up to preseason hype as the AL West favorite and finished fourth.

Banister earned his award he received on Tuesday, and if the Rangers can repeat in 2016, it'll be possibly even more impressive.

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