Justin Verlander, as expected, is keeping his post-2011 award-winning spree going at an impressive clip. After being considered a lock to win the AL Cy Young Award since the season came to an end, the choice has been confirmed by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, according to ESPN's Jim Bowden on Twitter.
Jered Weaver, James Shields, and CC Sabathia rounded out the top four.
He becomes the third player in Detroit Tigers history to win the award, joining Denny McLain and Guillermo Henandez for the honor. McLain won the award after a huge 31-victory season in 1968 (the Tigers won the World Series) and Hernandez notched the award in 1984 after dominating in most of the 80 games he pitched in during that World Series season. Both of those pitchers also earned the AL MVP award that season, something that Verlander definitely has a chance at.
Verlander led the league in wins (24), ERA (2.40) and strikeouts (250). His 24-5 record lead Detroit to its first division title in close to a quarter of a century. Verlander pitched 241 innings in 34 starts, and had a no-hitter on the season. Twice he reached the eighth inning in hitless bids on the year, as well.
The Cy Young Award will join a long list of awards for Verlander this season. He became the 12 pitcher in the last 50 years to win the Triple Crown, becoming the first Tiger to do it since Hal Newhouser in 1945, and the first AL pitcher to do it since Johan Santana in 2006. He was named to Sporting News' All-Star Team, was named the Sporting News Player of the Year and was tabbed as the MLB Players Choice Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year, all of this on top of being the cover athlete for 2K Sports' MLB 2K12.
Now he's got the AL Cy Young to add to the shelf.