Verlander beat out Dylan Cease of the Chicago White Sox and Alek Manoah of the Toronto Blue Jays. With Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara also winning the NL Cy Young in a unanimous vote, this is just the second time both Cy Young winners have been unanimous. Bob Gibson and Denny McLain also won unanimously in 1968, a year after the award began in both leagues. Verlander’s Cy Young, the third of his career, came after he spent most of the last two years recovering from Tommy John surgery. At 39 years and 227 days old on the final day of the regular season, Verlander becomes the fourth-oldest Cy Young winner. 2 Related Verlander led the AL in wins (18) and led the majors in both ERA (1.75) and WHIP (0.83), in front of a deep Astros pitching staff that helped secure the championship. His ERA was the best by a pitcher who made at least 25 starts in his age-39 season or older since streaks became official in both majors in 1913. Verlander became the second-oldest pitcher to lead the majors in ERA , topped only by a 43-year-old Roger Clemens in 2005. His 1.75 ERA was the lowest by an AL pitcher in a full season since Pedro Martinez had a 1.74 ERA in 2000. Verlander, now a free agent, went at least six innings in 22 of his 28 starts and amassed 175 innings during the regular season, striking out 185 batters and walking just 29. He followed that up the following season. but he overcame shaky command to contribute five innings of one-run ball against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5 of the World Series, an important step toward his second title. Player, Team 1st2nd3rd4th5thTotalJustin Verlander, Astros30——–210Dylan Cease, White Sox–14105197Alex Manoah, Blue Jays–71310–87Shohei Ohtani, Angels—-2-Framberans—9712Crays– —-1810 Shane Bieber, Guardians——135Nestor Cortes, Yankees———33Gerrit Cole, Yankees———11Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays—- —-11– Baseball Writers’ Association of America Verlander, who previously won the Cy Young Award in 2011 and 2019, is the 11th player to win it three or more times. The only one among them not in the Hall of Fame despite being eligible is Clemens, notoriously linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Verlander’s third came in the most unlikely way — near the end of his career, after major elbow surgery. He became the second non-rookie to make at least 15 starts and post a sub-2.00 ERA despite not playing in the big leagues the previous season, according to an ESPN Stats & Information survey. The other was Fred Toney, who had a 1.58 ERA for the 1915 Cincinnati Reds after playing in the minor leagues the previous year. Cease went 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA and 227 strikeouts. Manoah went 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA, the second-lowest mark in Blue Jays history. But Verlander was at the top of his class once again.
