"The official word will come a little after 2 p.m. Tuesday: Justin Verlander will be the third Tiger to win the American League Cy Young Award.

After winning the AL's pitching Triple Crown -- with 24 victories, a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts -- Verlander is considered a shoo-in for the honor by every breathing baseball pundit.

Here's a primer for Tuesday:

THE VOTING: The Baseball Writers Association of America annually determines four awards for each league: MVP, Cy Young, rookie of the year and manager of the year. Two writers from each city -- there are 14 AL cities -- vote for each award. For the Cy Young -- given to the league's top pitcher, whether starter or reliever -- each voter ranks five pitchers from first to fifth. First-place voters are worth seven points. Then it's 4-3-2-1."