Tigers' Cabrera wins AL MVP

Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera capped a Triple Crown season by collecting the American League Most Valuable Player award, which was announced Thursday.

He earned a comfortable victory in the voting over runner-up Mike Trout, the Los Angeles Angels outfielder who unanimously won the AL Rookie of the Year on Monday.

Cabrera, a Venezuela native, was baseball's first Triple Crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski won it in 1967. The last four Triple Crown winners also won the MVP award, which was voted by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

"I don't believe it, I'm very excited," Cabrera told the MLB Network after winning the award. "I don't have any words to say how excited I am right now.

"I never spent time (think about) winning because Mike Trout had an unbelievable season. I'm very surprised. ... I share this with all the fans in Detroit and all the fans in Venezuela."

It marked the second year in a row that a Detroit player was selected as MVP. Last season, pitcher Justin Verlander won the honor after leading the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA.

The 29-year-old Cabrera, who helped the Tigers to the World Series this season, received 22 of the 28 first-place votes, with the other six first-place votes going to Trout. Cabrera had 362 total votes to 281 for Trout.

Cabrera, 29, led the AL with a .330 batting average, 44 homers and 139 RBI. He also finished first with a .606 slugging percentage and fourth with a .393 on-base percentage.

Trout, 21, led the AL with 129 runs and with 49 stolen bases, and his .326 average ranked second in the league. He came in third in slugging percentage at .564 and in on-base percentage at .399.

The other American League finalists were Texas' Adrian Beltre, New York Yankees' Robinson Cano and Texas' Josh Hamilton.