MLB

Verlander and Alcantara make Cy Young Award history as unanimous winners

By Sports Desk November 16, 2022

Justin Verlander joined an exclusive club after being crowned the AL Cy Young Award winner for the third time, while Sandy Alcantara was voted NL winner unanimously as well.

The 39-year-old, who became a two-time World Series champion last month with the Houston Astros, received a unanimous vote after posting an MLB-best 1.75 ERA and striking out 185 batters in 175 innings over 28 starts in the 2022 regular season.

Verlander (2010) beat out Dylan Cease (97) of the Chicago White Sox and Alek Manoah (87) of the Toronto Blue Jays for the award, having also been crowned in 2011 and 2019.

The award comes after Verlander spent most of the past two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Verlander became the fourth-oldest Cy Young winner and is the 11th player to win the award three or more times.

The unanimous vote for both Verlander and Miami Marlins right-hander Alcantara marks the second time that has occurred in the same year, previously only in 1968 for Bob Gibson and Denny McLain.

Alcantara had the majors-best 228-and-two-third innings pitched, throwing six complete games, with a regular-season 2.28 ERA, with 207 strikeouts.

The 27-year-old was the first NL unanimous vote winner since Clayton Kershaw in 2014. Alcantara (210) beat Max Fried (72) of the Atlanta Braves and Julio Urias (66) of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the award.

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