Verlander, Alcantara unanimous Cy Youngs

The Astros’ Justin Verlander in the American League and Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara in the National League were unanimous selections for the Cy Young Award on Wednesday.

It’s the second time the winners in both leagues were unanimous since the award began in 1956 and the first since the Tigers’ Denny McLain in the AL and Cardinals’ Bob Gibson in the NL swept the voting in 1968.

McLain and Gibson also were their league MVPs, and McLain was a unanimous winner.

The 39-year-old Verlander, who also won the award in 2019 after winning both MVP and the Cy Young in 2011, becomes the 11th player to win it three times. He also won unanimously in 2011.

Verlander led the majors with a 1.75 ERA — the lowest of his 17-year career — after missing almost all of the previous two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Alcantara had a 2.28 ERA while pitching a major league-best 228 ⅔ innings and six compete games. It’s the first Cy Young for the 27-year-old from the Dominican Republic, who becomes the first Marlins player to receive the honor.

Verlander’s 18 wins led the AL, and he had 185 strikeouts to give him 3,198 in his career.

Alcantara’s six complete games were the most in the majors since Chris Sale had six in 2016. The two-time All-Star went 14-9.

NBA: All-Star G Kyrie Irving could rejoin the Nets as soon as Sunday’s home game against the Grizzlies at Barclays Center, ESPN reported. Irving missed his eighth consecutive game Thursday. The Nets gave Irving a minimum five-game suspension for his failure to initially apologize and condemn his social media link to a film riddled with antisemitic material.

NFL: QB Matthew Stafford is expected to play for the Rams against the Saints on Sunday after missing last weekend’s loss to the Cardinals while in the concussion protocol.