"Throughout the final weeks of the regular season, five players were frequently speculated upon as prime candidates for American League MVP. Four were hitters and the other was Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander.

This quantity of candidates might seem to have diminished Verlander's chances at the MVP. He had to win the argument that a starting pitcher can be the MVP, and he had to beat out four hitters, not one or two.

But the four hitters might scatter the MVP votes. If enough voters put Verlander in their top two or three, he could win because the other votes could be widely distributed among the four hitters. The voters might agree that Verlander belonged in the top three more than on who else belonged in their top three."