Justin Verlander unanimously w...

Every pitcher in baseball is going to dream about returning from Tommy John surgery like Justin Verlander.

The Houston Astros ace, a free agent this offseason, won the 2022 American League Cy Young Award on Wednesday, the final accolade recognizing the right-hander's historic comeback from one of baseball's most dreaded surgeries.

Verlander and the NL Cy Young winner, Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, both won the award unanimously. It is the second time in MLB history both awards have been unanimous, the other time being 1968 (Bob Gibson and Denny McLain).

It is also the third time Verlander has won MLB's top pitching award, after winning it in 2011 (plus MVP) with the Detroit Tigers and in 2019 with the Astros.

Justin Verlander joins exclusive company with 3rd Cy Young win

Every statistical list intended to determine baseball's all-time greats is going to have its oversights and stretches, but the list of three-time Cy Young winners is a pretty solid one. And now Verlander's a part of it.

The list of pitchers to receive at least three Cy Youngs is now Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, Greg Maddux, Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer, Pedro Martinez, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Verlander.

Other than Clemens (for obvious reasons), every pitcher on that list is a Hall of Famer or will become a Hall of Famer at some point in the next 10 years.

Sandy Alcantara wins NL Cy Young Award

Verlander might have been baseball's top pitcher on a per-inning basis this year, but no pitcher delivered more great innings than Alcantara.

The right-hander took home his first career Cy Young Award on the NL side, winning the award unanimously over finalists Max Fried and Julio Urias. The honor recognized a season that wouldn't have looked out of place 20 years ago, but definitely stands out now.

Eight MLB pitchers threw at least 200 innings this season, the former standard for what constituted a full season of work for a healthy pitcher. None of them threw more than 205, except for Alcantara, who had 228.1. That means Aaron Nola, who had the second-most innings with 205, would have needed to make more than three extra starts just to match Alcantara, who also posted six complete games and threw at least seven innings in 22 of his 32 starts.

The list of pitchers to receive at least three Cy Youngs is now Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, Greg Maddux, Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer, Pedro Martinez, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Verlander.

Other than Clemens (for obvious reasons), every pitcher on that list is a Hall of Famer or will become a Hall of Famer at some point in the next 10 years.