Traditionally, the Manager of the Year award has been reserved not for the best manager in each league, but for the manager whose team most exceeded preseason expectations. Keeping that in mind, whoever makes the actual trophies to be presented to the winners in the fall can save himself some work by engraving the names of Washington’s Frank Robinson and Chicago’s Ozzie Guillen on them right now. Both the Nationals and White Sox were expected by virtually all observers to be mediocre at best. Four months later, the White Sox hold the best record in baseball and the Nationals boast the third-best.

Robinson and Guillen probably deserve the awards. Their overachieving teams have played excellent baseball in large part because of their strategies and tactics. The Nationals’ exceptional 24-10 record in one-run games, for instance, can be attributed largely to the distribution of the bullpen workload. Robinson has four excellent relievers – Chad Cordero, Luis Ayala, Gary Majewski, and Hector Carrasco – each of whom has pitched roughly twice as many innings as the man with the fifth-highest workload, Jon Rauch.

Robinson’s willingness to give a clean slate to right fielder Jose Guillen – who at 29 is on his seventh ballclub and has sparred with his managers on most of them – has been rewarded with the best season of Guillen’s career. He’s also batted Brad Wilkerson – a slow runner with a .261 career average but who draws a lot of walks – atop the order.

Moves like these help explain how Robinson has drawn blood from stone, guiding a team that has scored 71 runs fewer than its nearest competitor to the top of the division. Putting a leadoff man who gets on base atop the order and judging a player by his actions rather than his reputation are sound managing; but they’re also, by the standards of today, radically unconventional. All of this has helped fuel Washington’s improbable run to the top of baseball’s most competitive division.

Similarly, much of the White Sox’ unexpected success is directly attributable to Guillen’s methods. Their record in one-run games is 22-9, and that’s largely due to Guillen’s willingness to eschew a conventional bullpen setup and simply go with whichever pitchers he feels have the best chance of success.

While closer Dustin Hermanson has been superb with a 1.53 ERA, Damaso Marte has earned eight saves and former closer Shingo Takatsu another two. Guillen gains some advantages this way in terms of matchups, but equally importantly, he makes clear to his players that he, not an arbitrary role like closer, dictates usage. This gives him the freedom to ride the hot hand rather than being tied to one pitcher come hell or high water.

By stressing aggression at the plate and on the basepaths while leaving sluggers like Frank Thomas and Paul Konerko alone to take pitches and hit home runs, Guillen has also reaped the benefits of not forcing all of his players into the same offensive gameplan. This notably contrasts with managers like the Cubs’ Dusty Baker, who also preach an aggressive approach to their hitters but don’t have sense enough to let those who can succeed with a more patient approach do so. Like much of what Robinson does, this sounds like, and is, mere common sense. That’s enough to set him and Guillen apart from most of their peers.

Still, I think the most impressive managing job in either league has been done by Atlanta’s Bobby Cox, with a nod to his longtime aide de camp, the great pitching coach Leo Mazzone. Cox has had to deal with more unexpected problems than any manager in either league, yet nothing has even remotely derailed the Braves.

Three of Atlanta’s five starting pitchers – Tim Hudson, Mike Hampton, and John Thomson – have spent significant time on the disabled list; the latter two have combined for only 17 starts this year. The team’s best player, Chipper Jones, has missed 40 games with a foot injury. The Opening Day corner outfielders, Brian Jordan and Raul Mondesi, were so ineffective that they were benched and released, respectively. Only a recent 10-for-18 streak has raised leadoff man Rafael Furcal’s OBA above .300. Dan Kolb, who opened the year as closer, lost his job and presently sports a 5.56 ERA.

In all, eleven rookie position players and eight rookie pitchers have suited up for the Braves this year, and only two of whom – left fielder Kelly Johnson and starter Kyle Davies – have particularly distinguished themselves.

No matter. Atlanta is only two games behind Washington, with a 4 1/2 game lead in the wild-card race. The Braves have scored the third-most runs in the NL, have the second-best ERA, and look to be an odds-on favorite to reach October yet again, as they’ve done in every non-strike year since 1991.

I wish I had some special insight into how Cox has done what he’s done. With Guillen and Robinson, there are specific facts that explain their success. With Cox, there’s nothing. The Braves have no business being as good as they are this year, yet no matter who puts on the uniform, the team excels. The very fact that it’s inexplicable is all the more reason for Cox to get his due. He almost certainly won’t win the Manager of the Year this fall, but that’s alright – the award may be beneath him.