It’s been a long time since a starting pitcher had won the American League MVP Award, 1986 to be exact. But that changed on Monday when the Baseball Writer’s Association of America (BBWAA) released their 2011 AL MVP voting totals.
After winning the 2011 AL Cy Young Award last Tuesday, Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander has pulled off the rare double-double of winning the AL Cy Young and now the AL MVP. The last pitcher to win both awards was Tigers reliever Willie Hernandez in 1984.
Verlander went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA in 34 starts. He struck out 250 in 251 innings and had four complete games including two shutouts. Verlander made two starts against the Boston Red Sox and was 1-0 with a 1.72 ERA (3 ER/15.2 IP).
Red Sox centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury finished second in the balloting and was followed by Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson and Tigers teammate Miguel Cabrera.
Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez finished seventh in the balloting while Dustin Pedroia finished ninth.
Next up in the BBWAA awards will be the final award of the season which will be the NL MVP tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m.
The 2011 AL & NL Rookie of the Year Awards were presented last Monday, the 2011 AL Cy Young Award last Tuesday, the 2011 AL & NL Manager of the Year Awards last Wednesday and the 2011 NL Cy Young Award last Thursday.
For a full look at the 2011 AL MVP Award voting totals, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
| 2011 American League Most Valuable Player voting totals | ||||||||||||
| Player | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points |
| Justin Verlander | Tigers | 13 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | – | 1 | – | – | 280 |
| Jacoby Ellsbury | Red Sox | 4 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | 242 |
| Jose Bautista | Blue Jays | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 231 |
| Curtis Granderson | Yankees | 3 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | 215 |
| Miguel Cabrera | Tigers | 2 | – | 9 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | – | 1 | – | 193 |
| Robinson Cano | Yankees | – | – | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 112 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | Red Sox | – | – | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 105 |
| Michael Young | Rangers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 96 |
| Dustin Pedroia | Red Sox | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | 1 | 4 | 6 | – | 48 |
| Evan Longoria | Rays | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | 1 | 2 | – | 3 | 27 |
| Ian Kinsler | Rangers | – | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 25 |
| Alex Avila | Tigers | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 13 |
| Paul Konerko | White Sox | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| CC Sabathia | Yankees | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | 10 |
| Adrian Beltre | Rangers | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Ben Zobrist | Rays | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 7 |
| Victor Martinez | Tigers | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| James Shields | Rays | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Mark Teixeira | Yankees | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | 5 |
| Asdrubal Cabrera | Indians | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Alex Gordon | Royals | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | 3 |
| Josh Hamilton | Rangers | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| David Robertson | Yankees | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
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Photo credit: Getty Images
