Photo used under a Creative Commons license with MissChatter.

Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson was named the 2012 National League Manager of the year today, a reward for his leading the Nationals to a Major League Baseball-best 98 wins during the regular season.

Johnson’s first full season with the Nationals transformed a team that usually finished near or at the bottom of the National League East into a formidable squad that reintroduced D.C. as a baseball city. And though the Nationals’ season ended in heartbreak, Johnson’s managerial skills were on display all year, whether it was figuring out how to compensate for an injured outfielder or balancing the pitching rotation.

The Manager of the Year award was voted on by a panel of 17 major-league managers sponsored by the Sporting News.

“To be recognized by my fellow comrades, a particularly accomplished bunch, makes this award especially meaningful,” Johnson said in a news release. “To put on the uniform every day and compete is an honor I never take for granted.”

Across Maryland, Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter was named the American League Manager of the Year, for turning the Orioles from a last-place team into one that made it to the American League Division Series.

Johnson took over the Nationals midway through the 2011 season after then-manager Jim Riggleman stepped down. He is not yet signed for the 2013 season, though both Johnson and the Nationals have expressed interest in him staying on. “I love baseball,” Johnson said after the Nationals clinched their division title. “And I love Washington, D.C.”