On Feb. 10, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that longtime Tiger Justin Verlander is returning to Detroit on a one-year contract.
At the end of his tweet, he stated that the 43-year-old Verlander will go into the Hall of Fame wearing a Tigers hat. Is that true?
Verlander spent the first 13 seasons of his career with Detroit, but he won two World Series titles with the Houston Astros. Most signs point to the righty going into Cooperstown wearing a Tigers cap, but his Astros tenure should not be scoffed at.
In parts of seven seasons with Houston, Verlander posted a 2.71 ERA and won two Cy Young awards. In 130 starts, he struck out 962 batters and tallied 72 wins. Twenty-one of those wins came in his 2019 campaign, he led the league in both wins and innings pitched with 223. The highlight of his 2019 season came in September when he no-hit the Blue Jays. Verlander struck out 14 batters on his way to becoming just the sixth pitcher ever with three no-hitters.
In the Astros’ postseason runs, Verlander is a career 10-7 including a complete game against the Yankees in 2017, where he struck out 13 and only allowed one run. He had two solid outings in the World Series that year as well, not allowing more than three runs in either of his starts.
That same 2017 season in which Verlander was acquired by the Astros in August, he went 5-0 in five starts, posting a 1.06 ERA in 34 innings. Verlander hit the ground running in Houston and never let his foot off the gas.
His other accolades with Houston include being named to three all-star teams and finishing inside the top 11 for MVP voting three times.
The younger generation may view Verlander as an Astro, but Passan’s generation and beyond always remember the city where he started.
Debuting in 2005 and winning Rookie of the Year in 2006, Verlander threw two no-hitters and reached the World Series twice with Detroit.
His 2011 season is one of the best by a pitcher in recent MLB history. Verlander won both the Cy Young award and AL MVP. He went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA while striking out 250 hitters to lead the league that year.
Verlander parlayed his 2011 season into 2012 where he went 17-8, had a league leading six complete games, 239 strikeouts and finished second in Cy Young voting. The righty lost his second consecutive Cy Young by a mere four points to David Price. This is the smallest margin of victory for a Cy Young in MLB history, besides the times pitchers have tied for the award. This happened to Verlander once again in 2016 when he lost to Rick Porcello by just five votes. Despite having more first place votes than Porcello, Verlander fell short yet again.
Comparing the two teams from statistical categories, Verlander is better as an Astro in almost every numerical category. These numbers must be taken with a grain of salt as Verlander spent nearly double the time in Detroit than he did in Houston, throwing 1,700 more innings for the Tigers.
However, his statistics in Detroit are ridiculous for a modern-day pitcher. Verlander won 183 games for the Motor City, an amount of wins that most pitchers do not even reach in their careers these days. His 56.6 WAR is second most all-time for a Tigers pitcher and he could easily slide into the number one spot with a decent 2026.
At the end of the day, Verlander will be in Cooperstown soon after his career ends. Whether it be in a Tigers or an Astros hat, his career will be remembered as one of the best pitchers of his generation with both squads.