Justin Verlander becomes the first pitcher to win the Most Valuable Player award since Dennis Eckersley in 1992. (Getty Images)

Last week Detroit’s Justin Verlander unanimously won the AL Cy Young Award. Today he has become the first starting pitcher in a quarter-century to win a Most Valuable Player award.

Verlander earned the American League MVP honor Monday, receiving 13 of 28 first-place votes and 280 points in voting announced by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

“It was such a relief to get that phone call,” Verlander said. “Obviously, I want to say it’s a dream come true, but winning the Cy Young was a dream come true.”

Boston center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury was second with 242 points, followed by Toronto right fielder Jose Bautista with 231 points. Verlander received 196 points in last week’s Cy Young balloting, beating the Angels Jered Weaver by 99 points.

Verlander went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts to take the AL pitching triple crown. He is the first pitcher to win MVP since Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in 1992 and the first starter since Boston’s Roger Clemens in 1986.

“It was such a relief to get that phone call,” Verlander said. “Obviously, I want to say it’s a dream come true, but winning the Cy Young was a dream come true.”
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WIth an 80 percent chance of showers today in St. Louis and clear skies tomorrow and Friday, Major League Baseball postponed tonight's Game Six of the World Series. (Weather.com)

The Texas Rangers will have to wait at least one more day to earn their first World Series title in franchise history. Rain fell on St. Louis periodically throughout the day and with more expected on the way tonight, Joe Torre, Walt Jocketty and Major League Baseball met this afternoon to discuss postponing tonight’s Game Six of the World Series. The verdict: Game Six will be played tomorrow under much clearer skies, with a potential Game Seven- and an even better outlook- moving to Friday.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon the league announced, “Given the desire to play a game of this magnitude without interruption, and an outlook with better conditions over the next two nights, Major League Baseball, along with the Cardinals and the Rangers, determined that making the decision early would be the most prudent course of action to allow fans enough time to plan accordingly.”
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Jered Weaver is excited to learn that he finished second in Fansided.com's AL Pitcher of the Year balloting. (Getty Images)

Around here, award season continues as a pair of Angels finished in the top five in Fansided’s voting for American League Pitcher of the Year. Tiger stud Justin Verlander ran away with the title, but LA’s one-two punch of Jered Weaver and Dan Haren were the highest ranking teammates in the annual award, finishing second and fifth respectively. Clayton Kershaw’s Triple Crown performance earned him the award in the National League. Jose Valverde and Craig Kimbrel took home the hardware for relievers.

Justin Verlander was the clear, unanimous winner and rightly so. He’s the current definition of a horse leading the league  in innings, wins, ERA and strikeouts. Opposing hitters often had no chance to connect as he struck out nearly 9 batters a game and even when hitters made contact Verlander’s BABIP, a league-leading .223, suggests that the could not connect solidly. He allowed less than a runner per inning to reach base (the only starter in the AL to do so), and nearly swept every relevant AL category, finishing second only to C.C. Sabathia in xFIP 3.12 to 3.02. Verlander finished with every one of the possible 231 points in the AL Pitcher of the Year voting.

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