Justin Verlander won 24 games this season, and today just won for the 25th time. Verlander won the AL MVP Award, and set a precedent for pitchers that will be felt for decades. Prior to 2011, no pitcher had won the MVP since 1992, when Dennis Eckersley won it as a reliever. Since then, the debate has raged as to whether a pitcher can or should win an MVP award. Should a player that only plays once every 5 games and only impacts one aspect of the game be eligible to be the Most Valuable Player? Many analysts and fans believed the answer should have been, “No.”
Justin Verlander, however, gave the voters no choice. He had 24 wins, a 2.40 ERA, 251 innings pitched, 4 complete games, 250 strikeouts, and the list goes on. It was the most dominating season for a starting pitcher since Roger Clemens in 1986, when he posted a 24-4 record and also won the MVP award. If Verlander were to not win the award this season, it would have been a devastating defeat for future pitchers with the stats to win the MVP. If the voters couldn’t award the MVP to a pitcher with 24 wins and 250 innings pitched, to what pitcher could they award the Most Valuable Player?
Verlander opened the door for future pitchers to win the award. He brought awareness to the fact that pitchers can have the type of impact on a club that could trump that of players like Jose Bautista of Toronto, Jacoby Ellsbury of Boston, and Josh Hamilton of Texas. Justin Verlander was by far the best pitcher in all of baseball, and today was confirmed as the Most Valuable Player in the American League.