Justin Verlander already won the Cy Young and now he has shown that starting pitchers can also win MVP awards.
The Detroit pitcher’s sterling 24-5 record was enough to pull off the rare accomplishment. Rogers Clemens was the last starting pitcher to win the award in 1986 and Verlander is the first to win the MVP/Cy Young in same year since Dennis Eckersley in 1992.
Verlander received 13 of the 28 first-place votes and tallied 280 points to edge out Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury (242), Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista (231) and New York Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson (215). Bautista got the second-most first-place votes with five.
