In an announcement that surprised absolutely no one, the Baseball Writers Association of America unanimously selected the Detroit Tigers' Justin Verlander as the 2011 Cy Young Award winner. He received all 28 first-place votes from the participating writers, becoming the first Tiger to win the award for the American League's best pitcher since Guillermo "Willie" Hernandez in 1984. How dominant was Verlander this season?

Verlander won baseball's "pitching triple crown" with the most wins (24), the most strikeouts (250) and the lowest earned-run average (2.40). He also led the American League in most innings pitched (251) and winning percentage (.828). Furthermore, he was also the toughest to hit against (opponents had a .192 batting average against him) and he allowed the fewest baserunners per nine innings (8.4). In addition, Verlander threw his second career no-hitter on May 7.

More From Cars 108