On Monday night, Justin Verlander made his first start in a Tigers uniform in nearly nine years. He was 34 and still Detroit’s ace when he left; now he’s 43 and pitching at the back of the rotation.
While fans’ excitement far outweighed any trepidation stemming from Verlander’s age and slow but steady decline, facts are facts. He didn’t have the cleanest spring training; 17 of the hits he gave up were for home runs. He’s not throwing 100 MPH anymore, and his body is breaking down far more often.
His start against the Diamondbacks went almost as badly as the most pessimistic of Tigers fans feared. He gave up a leadoff single, and then an RBI triple, and then a walk, and then an RBI groundout. It took 22 pitches for him to get his first out.
He was finally yanked in the bottom of the fourth with two outs, but the score was 5-0 after a Corbin Carroll three-run homer in the second.
The Tigers staged a six-run rally in the seventh that was ultimately fruitless (Arizona won 9-6), but the real story was Verlander’s blowup. Will his return to the team prove to be mostly ceremonial?
Based on his trajectory last year with the Giants, we shouldn’t get too fatalistic yet.
Justin Verlander’s ugly first half, excellent second half with Giants in 2025 should give Tigers a roadmap after rough 2026 debut
Verlander’s resurgence in the second half of the 2025 season was a feel-good story for the Giants. He spent the first half of the year getting knocked around and spending some time time on the IL, and then he came back after the All-Star break to pitch 14 healthy starts for a 2.99 ERA. He pitched through seven innings three times. His home run rate went down and his strikeout rate went up.
Slow starts aren’t fun for fans to watch, but history tells us that’s what’s happening with Verlander.
Naturally, he had some tough criticism for himself after the game.
“I don’t think what I did today is sustainable,” he said. “If that’s the way hitters are going to react against me, I need to be sharper than that.“
The Tigers are still more than confident he’ll figure it out. While fans are always much quicker to sound alarms prematurely, we also know what Verlander’s capable of. If anyone’s earned some goodwill and a wider margin for error, it’s him.