32-year old switch-hitting DH/C/1B Victor Martinez finished tied for 16th with Ben Zobrist and James Shields of the Rays for the MVP Award. Martinez played in 145 games for the Tigers last year and he was 178 for 540 (.330 avg, .850 OPS) with 76 runs scored, 12 homers, 103 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 1,149 games in his first 10 years in the majors and he is 1,298 of 4,279 (.303 avg, .840 OPS) with 585 runs scored, 143 homers, 741 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Martinez has the perfect spot in the lineup, right behind Miguel Cabrera, to continue putting up huge numbers.

24-year old lefty swinging catcher Alex Avila finished 12th in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award today. Avila played in 141 games for the Tigers last year and he was 137 for 464 (.295 avg, .895 OPS) with 63 runs scored, 19 homers, 82 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has now played in 274 games in his first three years in the majors and he is 221 of 819 (.270 avg, .815 OPS) with 100 runs scored, 31 homers, 127 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Avila is a player on the rise for the Detroit Tigers.

28-year old righty swinging 1B Miguel Cabrera finished 5th in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award. Cabrera played in 161 games for the Tigers last year and he was 197 for 572 (.344 avg, 1.033 OPS) with 111 runs scored, 30 homers, 105 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He has now played in 1,351 games in his first 9 years in the majors and he is 1,597 of 5,041 (.317 avg, .950 OPS) with 852 runs scored, 277 homers, 984 RBIs and 29 stolen bases. Cabrera won the batting title in the A.L. last year and he is going to win an MVP Award in the very near future.

66-year old Jim Leyland finished in 2nd place in the voting for the A.L. Manager of the Year Award in 2011. Leyland led the Tigers to a 95-67 (58.6%) record and a A.L. Central division title. Leyland now has a 1,588-1,585 (50%) in his first 20 years as a major league manager. He has won this award three times in his major league career and he is plenty capable of winning another one in the very near future.

28-year old righty starting pitcher Justin Verlander has been named the 2011 American League Cy Young Award winner and it was unanimous. Verlander pitched in 34 games (all starts) for the Tigers last year and he was 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP. He only gave up 174 hits while whiffing 250 batters in 251 innings, and those are eye popping numbers. Verlander also tightened up his control in 2011 as he only walked 57 batters, which was impressive. Verlander has now pitched in 199 games (all starts) in his first seven years with the Tigers and he is 107-57 with a 3.54 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. The best is yet to come from Justin Verlander.

UPDATE: (11/21/2011) - Justin Verlander was named the A.L. MVP earlier today. He keeps adding cool stuff to his trophy case!