Miguel Cabrera wins 2012 American League MVP Award

Miguel Cabrera's mighty bat lifted him to the AL MVP for 2012. (US Presswire)

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Detroit slugger Miguel Cabrera has won the American League MVP Award for 2012.

Cabrera this season batted .330/.393/.606 with 44 homers, 40 doubles and 139 RBI. He became the first hitter to win the triple crown (i.e., lead his league in AVG, HR and RBI) since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

The award is Cabrera's first but marks his sixth top-five finish in the MVP balloting. He's also the second Tiger in a row to win the award, as Justin Verlander claimed the honors for 2011. As a result, he and Verlander became the first teammates to win the AL MVP in back-to-back seasons since Pudge Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez of the Rangers in 1999 and 1998.

Quite a few observers argued that the award should have gone to Angels rookie Mike Trout, but, as you'll soon see, the voting wasn't particularly close ...

Indeed, Cabrera took 22 of 28 first-place votes and bested Trout by 81 total points.

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