Miguel Cabrera has won the American League MVP award. 

"I'm very surprised," Cabrera told the MLB Network. He said winning the award was "very exciting for my country." He is the first Venezuelan to win the AL MVP award.

"I think this award is about my team," he said. "I had very good teammates."

Cabrera won 22 first place votes and 362 points total. Angels centerfield Mike Trout, who was named rookie of the year earlier this week, was the runner-up with just 6 first place votes and 281 total points.

While the pundits are still arguing about the divide between old school "baseball guys" who favored Cabrera and the new school statistical analysts who preferred Angels centerfielder Mike Trout, the case for Cabrera doesn't fall apart if you use objective, advanced stats to determine the American League's most valuable player.

Here's an excerpt from an argument I made for Cabrera back in early October.

Deadline Detroit: Had Cabrera stayed at first base and had Prince Fielder signed elsewhere, this team doesn’t make the playoffs. If you accept WAR's validity, that’s a quantifiable fact. Replace Fielder in the line-up with the theoretical replacement player and, other things equal, they probably finish a game or two behind Chicago.

Sports fans love to invent fictions about leadership, clubhouse guys, and blah blah blah. So and So may only hit .235 and he may not have any range, but he’s a gamer! Well, here’s an actual situation where a player sacrificed for the good of the team. And it created actual value for Cabrera’s club.

This makes two straight MVP awards for the Detroit Tigers. Justin Verlander won the MVP and Cy Young for his remarkable 2011 season.

For what it's worth, Verlander agreed with the voters' decision.

San Fransisco Giants catcher Buster Posey was named the National League MVP tonight as well.