Verlander, Pujols voted comeback players of year

Houston Astros right-hander Justin Verlander and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman/designated hitter Albert Pujols won baseball’s Comeback Player of the Year awards Tuesday night.

Verlander (18-4, 1.75 ERA), the American League recipient, returned from Tommy John surgery to lead Houston to its second World Series championship. He had the lowest ERA in the majors and was a unanimous winner of his third Cy Young Award — becoming the first player to earn the prize after not pitching in the previous season.

Pujols (.270, 24 homers, 68 RBIs in 109 games), honored in the National League, came back to St. Louis for his farewell season and posted his biggest numbers in years at age 42. The threetime MVP compiled an .895 OPS for the NL Central champions and became the fourth major leaguer to reach 700 career home runs.

His OPS was his highest since his last season with the Cardinals in 2011 (.906) before joining the Angels, and his home runs were his most since hitting 31 in 2016 for the Angels.

The winners were chosen in voting by the 30 team beat reporters at MLB.com.

• Nick Martinez and the Padres finalized a $26 million, three-year contract for the pitcher to remain with San Diego.