Justin Verlander has a second AL Cy Young Award — and a clear path paved toward Cooperstown.
Verlander beat out Houston Astros teammate Gerrit Cole in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America revealed Wednesday night. Verlander got 17 first-place votes to 13 for Cole, who became a free agent after the season.
Mets ace Jacob deGrom won the NL prize for the second straight year. He received 29 of 30 first-place votes, becoming the 11th pitcher to win Cy Youngs in consecutive years. He and Verlander are the 20th and 21st players to win the award multiple times.
The 36-year-old Verlander won his first Cy Young in 2011 with Detroit, when he was also named MVP. Since then, he’d been a runner-up three times.
Verlander no-hit Toronto on Sept. 1, becoming the sixth pitcher with three no-hitters in a career.
DeGrom is in special company as a repeat NL winner, joining Koufax, Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Tim Lincecum, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer.
The 31-year-old led the NL with 255 strikeouts and posted a 2.43 ERA.
Awards week wraps Thursday with the announcement of AL and NL MVPs. Angels star Mike Trout is seeking his third MVP but might lose out after his season was cut short due to injury. Astros infielder Alex Bregman and A’s shortstop Marcus Semien are the other finalists in the AL.
Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich is trying to repeat as the NL winner, but his season was also cut short by an injury. It’ll likely be him or Dodgers youngster Cody Bellinger. Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon is also a finalist.
