After Cy Young, Justin Verlander wins the Most Valuable Player Award as well – MLB News
Justin Verlander on Monday, November 21 added second glory in his already illustrious career when he secured the American League Most Valuable Player Award. Being the first starting pitcher to get both American League Cy Young Award and now this MVP, Verlander
came out as the player who truly deserved this recognition.
He is the first Detroit Tigers pitcher to have received the American League Most Valuable Player Award in more than two decades. This comes at the wake of his winning AL pitching Triple crowns and the Tigers division title.
Verlander sounded extremely delighted after the honours endowed on him by Major League Baseball. His dream, while to get the Cy Young award, is to win the World Series title for his team.
"Not even in my wildest dreams had I thought of this," Verlander said. "I want to say this is a dream come true. I can't say that, because my dream had already come true -- to win the Cy Young. The next dream is to win a World Series. This wasn't even on
my radar until the talk started."
Making a total of 280 points, he got 13 of 28 first-place votes coming directly from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The one following him, to book the second place in the voting, was Jacoby Ellsbury, the Boston Red Sox centre-fielder with
242 points and Jose Bautista standing third with 231 points to his credit.
"I think the word 'valuable' implies that something good happened," Verlander said. "Obviously, that had a huge impact on me winning the award this year.”
Being in league with the likes Bautista and Ellsbury, for Verlander is one of the biggest reasons why he won the MVP as none of the two players’ teams qualified for the post-season.
Verlander, after receiving the award, stated that he had started with the Detroit Tigers and hope to finish with them, underscoring the importance he attaches to the club from where he has got his fame.
Justin had led the American League pitchers with 25 wins to his credit, to win both the Cy Young and MVP Awards.
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