AP Photographers Captured the Year in Sports From London to Los Angeles, Miami to Medinah and just about everywhere else imaginable, Associated Press photographers captured countless images from the sports world in 2012. Each of them was unforgettable in its own way, capturing either someone's success or someone's struggles. Here's a look at 10 photos that helped define the sports year. Miguel Cabrera will be remembered for making two things during the 2012 baseball season - history and the last out. The Detroit Tigers' third baseman became baseball's first Triple Crown winner in 45 years, after batting .330 with 44 home runs and 139 RBIs on the way to the AL Most Valuable Player award. But in the World Series, the Tigers were swept by the San Francisco Giants. San Francisco's Sergio Romo struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 4, and got Cabrera looking at an 89 mph, belt-high fastball to end the Giants' 4-3, title-clinching win. "We've got to feel proud about what we did this year," Cabrera said. We went through a lot, down and up. In his case, mostly up. This is not how we're used to seeing Tom Brady. Seated. Somber. Second-best. FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2012 file photo, Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera walks away after striking out to end Game 4 of baseball's World Series against the San Francisco Giants in Detroit. Cabrera will be remembered for two things during the baseball season of 2012: Becoming baseball's first Triple Crown winner in 45 years, and striking out on an 89 mph, belt-high fastball to end the Giants' 4-3, title-clinching win. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File) Close Early in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots quarterback nearly slammed the door on the New York Giants. With the Patriots up 17-15, Brady took a snap, avoided two would-be sacks, settled and threw downfield toward Rob Gronkowski, who was behind a defender inside the Giants 10. Gronkowski never had a chance. The Giants' Chase Blackburn defended the play perfectly, making the interception. Brady got knocked down just after he released the ball, and from his temporary seat watched Blackburn make the play that gave New York new life. Final score? Giants 21, Patriots 17. Everyone at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami knew LeBron James was finally about to become an NBA champion. With a couple minutes left on the clock in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the outcome in no doubt, Heat guard Mario Chalmers waved his arms in celebration. James yelled at him to stop. "It's too soon," he said. Even in that moment, James wanted to take no risks. The only things James didn't seem to win in 2012 were Powerball and the presidential election. Olympic champion. And, at long last, he got his hands on the NBA championship trophy, when the Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games for the crown. She won as a bright-eyed and super-talented kid at Wimbledon in 2004, prevailed at the U.S. Open in 2006 and captured the Australian Open in 2008. The French Open, however, had always been a huge problem for Maria Sharapova. That is, until 2012. Sharapova rolled across the clay at Roland Garros, dropping only one set - a tiebreaker - in her seven matches. The final was a 6-3, 6-2 win over Italy's Sara Errani, a victory that made her the 10th woman to complete the tennis version of a career Grand Slam. She dropped to the clay in both celebration and disbelief, after seeing someone else emerge victorious at each of the previous 16 majors. There are magic numbers in basketball. For Wilt Chamberlain, there's 100. For Michael Jordan, there's 23. For Baylor, there's now 40.