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The Rookie of the Year Awards didn't provide much room for debate, but trying to decide the year's best pitcher required a little more consideration -- at least in the National League, anyway.
SB Nation baseball bloggers settled on Justin Verlander rather easily in the American League, but R.A. Dickey beat out Clayton Kershaw for the National League honors by just three points.
Chris Sale, meanwhile, finished a solid fourth in his first year as a starter. If you needed any more evidence that the transition was ultimately a success, look at the names below him in the results:
American League
| Player | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justin Verlander | Detroit Tigers | 23 | 1 | 2 | 171 | ||
| David Price | Tampa Bay Rays | 2 | 17 | 7 | 103 | ||
| Felix Hernandez | Seattle Mariners | 6 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 72 | |
| Chris Sale | Chicago White Sox | 4 | 10 | 4 | 36 | ||
| Jered Weaver | Los Angeles Angels | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 23 | |
| Fernando Rodney | Tampa Bay Rays | 2 | 3 | 4 | 18 | ||
| Matt Harrison | Texas Rangers | 1 | 3 | 5 | |||
| CC Sabathia | New York Yankees | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||
| Max Scherzer | Detroit Tigers | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Yu Darvish | Texas Rangers | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Jim Johnson | Baltimore Orioles | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Hiroki Kuroda | New York Yankees | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Jake Peavy | Chicago White Sox | 1 | 1 | ||||
| James Shields | Tampa Bay Rays | 1 | 1 |
National League
| Player | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R.A. Dickey | New York Mets | 13 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 157 | |
| Clayton Kershaw | Los Angeles Dodgers | 11 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 154 |
| Gio Gonzalez | Washington Nationals | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 129 |
| Johnny Cueto | Cincinnati Reds | 2 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 73 |
| Cliff Lee | Philadelphia Phillies | 5 | 4 | 3 | 26 | ||
| Matt Cain | San Francisco Giants | 1 | 5 | 4 | 17 | ||
| Cole Hamels | Philadelphia Phillies | 1 | 3 | 5 | 15 | ||
| Craig Kimbrel | Atlanta Braves | 1 | 2 | 6 | 13 | ||
| Wade Miley | Arizona Diamondbacks | 3 | 1 | 7 | |||
| Kris Medlen | Atlanta Braves | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Lance Lynn | St. Louis Cardinals | 1 | 1 |