Verlander, who won the A.L.Cy Young Award unanimously last week, led the league in victories, earned run (average) and strikeouts. He is the only A.L. pitcher to reach 24 wins and 250 strikeouts, with an E.R.A. of 2.40 or lower, since the advent of the (designated) hitter in 1973.
The last pitchers to receive M.V.P. votes were the Angels’ Francisco Rodriguez and the Phillies’ Brad Lidge in 2008. The last (pitcher) to come close to winning was Boston’s Pedro Martinez, who was second in 1999 after going 23-4 with a 2.07 E.R.A. and 313 strikeouts.
Martinez had the most first-place votes that year but was (left) off two ballots, which stretch to 10th place. Verlander appeared on 27 of 28 ballots this year; only Jim Ingraham of The News-Herald, near Cleveland, omitted him.
Ingraham told Sirius XM Radio on Monday that while he did not want to detract from Verlander’s success, “philosophically, I’m not (comfortable) voting for a player that plays in such a low percentage of his team’s games.”
Detroit played 128 games without Verlander, but his durability helped keep the bullpen fresh. Verlander also faced 969 hitters; Boston outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, the runner-up, had 729 plate appearances.Verlander (collected) 13 first-place votes; Ellsbury had four. Toronto’s Jose Bautista finished third but had five first-place votes, followed by the Yankees’ Curtis Granderson three first-place votes and the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera two.
