Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander was named the American League Cy Young Award winner on Wednesday, capping a brilliant bounce-back season that saw him reach unprecedented heights.
Verlander beat out Dylan Cease of the Chicago White Sox and Alek Manoah of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Verlander's Cy Young, the third of his career, came at the end of his age-39 season, after spending most of the past two years recovering from Tommy John surgery. Verlander led the AL in wins (18) and led the majors in both ERA (1.