NEW YORK -- Six years ago, upon being crowned American League MVP, Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander agreed with the popular opinion that it should be more difficult for a starting pitcher to win the award than a position player.
"Having the chance to play in 160-some games, in the case of [teammate] Miguel [Cabrera], they can have a huge impact every day," Verlander said at the time. "That's why I've talked about, on my day, on a pitcher's day, the impact we have is tremendous on that game. So you have to have a great impact almost every time out to supersede [position players], and it happens on rare occasions.