AL All-Star Report: Verlander May Be Human But He’s Still The Best
Detroit Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander might not be having a historic season like he did in 2011, when the righthander won 24 games, racked up 251 innings, posted a 2.40 ERA and swept both the Cy Young and MVP awards. The ERA might be a little higher, the pace for wins down by a third, and the innings rate slightly off. But those are more statements about how good ’11 really was, rather than anything negative about 2012. Verlander is following the same path as Roger Clemens did when he did the MVP/Cy Young double-dip in 1986. Clemens was human the next year, but still a very good human, and he won a second straight Cy Young Award. If we had to pick today, Verlander would deserve the same, and he deserves to get the ball a week from tonight in Kansas City for the All-Star game.