There’s been a lot of debate over the last month or so about whether Justin Verlander should be AL MVP this season. I think most of the debate is really whether any pitcher should be MVP when there is already the Cy Young award which is awarded exclusively to pitchers.

In my opinion, it doesn’t matter that there is another award that he can (and most probably will) win. The award is simply Most Valuable Player of the American league. With 24 wins already and another start left of the regular season, there’s a good chance he will be the first pitcher since Bob Welch in 1990 to win 25 games in a season. He has a 2.29 ERA and has gone at least 7 innings and given up three earned runs or less in 24 of his 33 games. He’s had 244 strikeouts in the same amount of innings, and has also given up less than one walk or hit per inning pitched.

These are all pretty good stats, but I think the one statistic that shows he truly is the most valuable player on his team is that when he pitches, the team is a fantastic 25-8 , but they are only a fairly average 65-57 when he’s not. Clearly, he is a major factor why the Tigers have claimed the central division title, but does that make him the MVP of the league?

In my opinion, there’s no doubt that he should be MVP this year, we’ll just have to wait and see what the BBWAA will decide. Let me know what you think below!