World Series opponents Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey take home MVP awards

BREAKING: Baseball's MVP awards have been announced and the world is still spinning.

After months of debate and name-calling from supporters on both sides, Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera won his first American League MVP award on Thursday, beating out Los Angeles Angels phenom Mike Trout in a sizable victory. Cabrera took first place on 22 of 28 ballots, beating Trout 362-281 in overall points. Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre took third. BBWAA.com has the full results.

Meanwhile, the National League MVP winner was someone who was also near the plate during the final out of the World Series last month, though in a much happier capacity. San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey took home the NL MVP award, earning the first-place vote on 27 of 32 ballots. Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun finished a distant second and Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen placed third. BBWAA.com also has the full results.

Cabrera's win provides an unofficial end to one of the better debates in sports history. With his Triple Crown — the first in 45 years — pitted against Trout's monster WAR season, the battle between traditionalists and those in the sabermetric community was a fierce one. Though it's not likely to end anytime soon, the writers' blessing of Cabrera makes him the first Venezuelan to win the award and gives the slugger a nice accolade for what has been a Hall of Fame-caliber career so far. The third baseman hit .330/.393/.606 with 44 homers and 139 RBIs as the Tigers won the AL Central and made their first World Series since 2006.

[Related: Mike Trout voted unanimous AL ROY]

Cabrera is the eighth member of the Tigers franchise to win the AL MVP award, joining last year's winner Justin Verlander, Willie Hernandez, Denny McLain, Hal Newhouser, Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer and Mickey Cochrane.

Posey is the first catcher to win the NL MVP since Johnny Bench in 1972 and earned the honor with a stellar year behind the plate for the World Series champions. Posey won the NL batting title with a .336 average, led the league in OPS+ with a mark of 172 and played 148 games after missing much of the 2011 season with a broken leg.

Posey is the first Giants player to win since Barry Bonds won four straight years from 2001-04. He's the seventh overall member of the Giants franchise to be named MVP, joining Bonds, Jeff Kent, Kevin Mitchell, Willie McCovey, Willie Mays and Carl Hubbell.

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