Justin Verlander's AL Cy Young Award Was an Easy Choice

Major League Baseball's postseason awards often inspire debate and at times controversy. Not the 2011 American League Cy Young Award, though. That's because when you lead your league in wins, strikeouts, earned run average, whip ratio and games started, that doesn't leave much wiggle room for the voters. 

Only the most biased of hometown voters could have denied a first place vote to Justin Verlander. None did, though, and he became the first unanimous Cy Young award winner since Johan Santana in 2006. 

Verlander won the triple crown of pitching. Pitching triple crowns aren't nearly as rare as hitting ones are, but they usually and rightfully do insure a Cy Young award.

There hasn't been a triple crown of pitching since the 2006 season. That season, Johan Santana took home the Cy Young and triple crown of pitching with a dominant season in Minnesota.

A comparison of the two seasons reveals that both pitchers put together phenomenal seasons. Verlander had 24 wins and Santana had 19. Verlander had an earned run average of 2.40, while Santana checked in at 2.77. Verlander had 250 strikeouts in 251 innings pitched, while Santana managed to strikeout 245 in 233 innings pitched. Both pitchers made 34 starts in their triple crown campaigns.

The most dramatic difference is one of durability. Verlander faced 969 batters, while Santana faced only 923. The 46-batter difference may not seem like much, but with 27 outs in a nine-inning game, that difference represents nearly two full games worth of batters. That also shows up in complete games: Verlander had four, including a no-hitter, while Santana had only one complete game, and it wasn't a shutout.

What really stands out about Verlander is that his career trajectory seems to suggest that this won't be his last Cy Young award. Santana, in spite of two Cy Young Awards in 2004 and 2006, always had a somewhat frail appearance, as well as a violent pitching motion. There were plenty of people in baseball who had concerns about his long-term durability, and that's a big part of why a team like the Yankees balked at giving up young prospects such as Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes and Robinson Cano to acquire Santana via trade.

Verlander does not appear to be cut from that type of cloth. He is an imposing physical presence standing 6'5 and weighing 225 pounds. His pitching motion appears nearly effortless. He doesn't posses the paunch of a CC Sabathia nor does he cut a stick figure-like silhouette on the mound like Jarred Weaver.

Verlander is 28 years old and has been building up to this season since his rookie campaign in 2006. Any questions about his durability were likely answered in his game three ALDS performance against the New York Yankees last month. Facing one of baseball's best lineups, he was dominant, throwing as hard in the eighth inning as he was in the first inning.

Older baseball fans who remember when starting pitchers routinely went deep into games and actually finished them as well can appreciate Verlander's durability and bulldog attitude. If he was pitching in the 1970s or early 1980s, he'd probably have finished with 10 or more complete games this past season. That's just the type of pitcher he is: a throwback fire-baller with modern athleticism.

The Cy Young was a foregone conclusion for Verlander. The real debate will begin next Monday when Verlander will find out if he's the first starting pitcher in Major League Baseball to win an MVP award since Roger Clemens in 1986.