Ellsbury the Bridesmaid for MVP, Verlander the Bride

It hasn’t happened since 1986, but today Justin Verlander became the first starting pitcher since Roger Clemens to win the American League Cy Young and now the AL MVP.

Jacoby Ellsbury, was deemed the favorite by many to win the award finished second in voting collecting four, first place votes and 13 second place votes that helped total 242  points.  Verlander was on a first place ballot 13 times and totaled 280 points to win the award.  Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays finished third in voting with 231 points.

As the announcement grew closer, many were speculating that Ellsbury would win the award despite his club failing to reach the playoffs.  Verlander was not only the best pitcher in baseball, he is now dubbed the most valuable player.

The argument will go on as to whether or not Verlander should be even considered for the award, seeing as how one voting factor is games played.  Verlander played a quarter of the games that Ellsbury or Bautista did this past season, but in the end his numbers were pretty damn good.  A record of 24-5 with an ERA of 2.40.  He led many of the pitchers statistics categories and proved that the Detroit Tigers would not have been as good as they were without him.  Would they have won the division without him?  Maybe, maybe not.  That’s a whole new argument.

Adrian Gonzalez finished seventh in voting and Dustin Pedroia finished ninth.  Once again the Red Sox were well represented for an award, a small token of satisfaction after a disappointing season and what has been a disappointing start to the off season.

Congrats to Mr. Verlander on winning the award.

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