The AL Cy Young Award had to go to a Houston Astro and that decision was extremely difficult. That being said, there wasn’t really a wrong answer and now Justin Verlander has won his second Cy Young after an outstanding 2019 campaign, leading the league with 21 wins, a respectable 2.58 ERA along with a no-hitter.
Verlander beat out Gerrit Cole by 12 points, receiving four more first-place-votes than his teammate. This is the first time that two teammates finished 1-2 in the Cy Young voting
Verlander, coming off his age-36 campaign, becomes the oldest Cy Young winner since R.A. Dickey in 2012. Verlander previously won the award in 2011 with the Tigers. He’s now the 21st pitcher in MLB history to win multiple Cy Young Awards. Verlander was also AL MVP in 2011, and with this Cy Young win he joins Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, Roger Clemens, and Clayton Kershaw as the only pitchers to win the MVP and multiple Cy Youngs.
The Virginia native is locked in for the 2020 season with the Houston Astros after signing an extension before the start of the 2019 season while his teammate Cole is set to hit the free-agent market and will likely be one of the most coveted players when the hot stove starts to heat up in the month of December.
Former Astro Charlie Morton finished third in the voting with 75 points and no first-place votes.
With his 225 career wins; 3,006 strikeouts; and career WAR of 71.4, Verlander was likely already bound for the Hall of Fame, especially since he’s self-evidently still pitching at a high level. This additional hardware only helps his eventual case.