Dominating the Mound
Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander has been the most dominant pitcher in baseball this year. At 24-5 he leads all of baseball in wins, innings pitched (251.0), strikeouts (250), and WHIP (0.92) in addition to being first in the American League with a 2.40 ERA. Verlander also has 4 complete games, of which he has one no-hitter and three other times he pitched eight innings or more and gave up two or less hits during those outings. His fastball can reach triple digits even late into games, his changeup can leave batters looking foolish with an early swing, and his curve breaks so hard that you would think it was because just for an instance earth’s gravity changed. Perhaps just as important, his Tigers won the AL Central by double digit games. He is having one of the best seasons a pitcher has had in about a decade. The AL Cy Young is his, but what about the AL MVP?
