At this point, Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander has a stranglehold on the AL Cy Young Award, but could he potentially make a run at the MVP as well?
On Tuesday night, the 39-year-old future Hall-of-Famer dazzled once again, throwing six no-hit innings against the Minnesota Twins before he was removed due to a restricted pitch limit. He also struck out 10 batters during his dominant start.
Justin Verlander Cy Young Odds
As it stands, Verlander has pulled away from White Sox ace Dylan Cease in the Cy Young running. He’s currently a -250 betting favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award, with Cease coming in at +330, per DraftKings (shop for the best price here.)
Those two are out ahead to win the award, with the third favorite in terms of odds being Rays’ Shane McClanahan at +1000.
Perhaps Verlander has the Cy Young locked up barring any unforeseen struggles to end the season, but could he potentially make a run at MVP?
Justin Verlander MVP Odds
All season long, the debate for AL MVP has been centered around Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, but Judge has taken the mantle as the clear favorite.
Per DraftKings, Judge is a whopping -650 to take home the MVP trophy in his contract season. Ohtani has dropped to +350 to win the award despite his prowess on the mound and at the plate.
Even though Verlander isn’t listed for MVP odds on most sports books, perhaps there’s a case to be made that he should really be one of the finalists for the award.
This season, Verlander is 16-3 with a 1.87 ERA with a WHIP of 0.84, leading the entire MLB.
When Justin Verlander won both the Cy Young and the MVP Award in 2011 (albeit in a weak year for position players), his numbers weren’t quite as good. That season, Verlander went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and a WHIP of 0.92.
Unfortunately for the Astros ace, Judge and Ohtani are currently doing things that we haven’t seen in a long time. Judge is currently at 48 home runs, well on pace to break Roger Maris’ historic Yankees record of 61. And it’s hard to rival a guy like Ohtani, who can dominate as an ace and power hitter for the Angels.
So, Verlander will likely have to settle for winning the Cy Young this time around. Coming off Tommy John Surgery, that’ll be just fine.
