MAJOR LEAGUES
Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera won the American League’s Most Valuable Player award on Thursday after becoming major league baseball’s first Triple Crown winner in 45 years, while San Francisco’s Buster Posey was voted the National League honor.
Cabrera received 22 of 28 first-place votes and 362 points from the AL panel of Baseball Writers’ Association of America to easily beat out Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout, who had six firsts and 281 points.
Trout was voted AL Rookie of the Year earlier in the week.
Posey recovered from a devastating leg injury that cut short his 2011 season and became the first catcher in 70 years to win the NL batting title as he helped San Francisco win their second World Series title in three seasons.
He got 27 of 32 firsts and 422 points from the NL panel, outdistancing last year’s winner Ryan Braun of Milwaukee, who was second with 285 points.
Cabrera hit .330 with 44 homers and 139 RBIs to become the first Triple Crown winner since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.
The last four Triple Crown winners have been voted MVP, including Mickey Mantle in 1956 and Frank Robinson in 1966.
Cabrera also led the league with a .606 slugging percentage for the AL champion Tigers.
He became the second straight Detroit player voted MVP, following Justin Verlander last year, and was the first Venezuelan to earn the honor.
Before the season, he switched from first base to third to make way for Prince Fielder, signing as a free agent.
The 2010 NL Rookie of the Year, Posey set career highs with a .336 average, 24 homers and 103 RBIs for the World Series champions.
His 2011 season was cut short by a collision with the Marlins’ Scott Cousins on May 25 that resulted in a fractured bone in Posey’s lower left leg and three torn ankle ligaments.
Posey, the fifth overall pick in the 2008 amateur draft, won the NL batting title after teammate Melky Cabrera requested a rules change that disqualified him.
Melky Cabrera, who hit .346, missed the final 45 games of the regular-season while serving a suspension for a positive testosterone test and would have won the batting crown if the rule had not been changed.
Ernie Lombardi had been the previous catcher to capture the NL batting championship, in 1942.
Catchers have won the NL MVP just eight times, with Posey joining Gabby Hartnett (1935), Lombardi (1938), Roy Campanella (1951, 1953, 1955) and Johnny Bench (1970, 1972).
The other winning catchers were Lombardi in 1938 and Gabby Hartnett in 1935.
Posey is the first Giants player to win since Barry Bonds was voted his record seventh MVP award in 2004.
Pittsburgh outfielder Andrew McCutchen (245) was third, followed by St Louis catcher Yadier Molina (241).
Manchester United on Tuesday confirmed Michael Carrick as interim manager until the end of the season, tasking him with leading the Red Devils back into the UEFA Champions League. “Having the responsibility to lead Manchester United is an honor,” said Carrick, 44, who won 12 major trophies in his 12-year playing career at United. The former midfielder previously had an unbeaten three-game stint as caretaker boss at Old Trafford in 2021. Carrick then took on his first permanent managerial role at second-tier Middlesbrough in October 2022 and was sacked in June last year after the club finished 10th in the
Mohamed Salah’s Egypt knocked reigning champions Ivory Coast out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with a 3-2 win in the quarter-finals on Saturday, while Victor Osimhen starred as Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0 to set up a clash with hosts Morocco. In Agadir, Morocco, a thrilling last-eight tie saw Omar Marmoush and Ramy Rabia net in the first half for the Pharaohs before an own goal by Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh brought the Ivorians back into it. Salah then got Egypt’s third early in the second half and they held on after Guela Doue again reduced the deficit. Egypt is to face Senegal
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE: Sabalenka aims to follow up with a third Australian Open win, while Taiwanese Joanna Garland claimed a WTA 125 title in Canberra Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets to reach her third Brisbane International final in a row yesterday, a week ahead of the Australian Open. Sabalenka looked in great touch against the tricky Czech, who had won their last three meetings and went into the match as one of the few players with a winning record over the world No. 1. However, Sabalenka showed her class and power as she broke Muchova once in each set to take the semi-final 6-3, 6-4 in 89 minutes to face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final. “I struggled against her a couple of times [in
Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday sparked defending champions Oklahoma City to victory, while Anthony Edwards led Minnesota’s last-minute fightback to beat San Antonio. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points while adding eight assists and five rebounds in the Thunder’s 124-112 home victory over Miami, improving the NBA’s best record to 33-7 after outscoring the Heat 70-53 in the second half. “We locked in defensively. We were finally able to get some stops,” Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins said. “We were able to get out in transition a little bit, get going offensively and find the flow.” Jalen Williams scored 18 points, while
RSS