A lot had to go right for Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander to make his last MLB start this weekend.
Though, maybe "right" isn't the right word.
Verlander spoke Friday, Sept. 25, at Comerica Park ahead of the Tigers' game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the first day of the team's two-day celebration of the 43-year-old's career and legacy.
And though Verlander is ready to pitch on Saturday (1:10 p.m.) to mark the end of his 21-year MLB career, there were many stops along the road of his months-long rehab that could have derailed this final celebration.
"I skipped about a month's worth of rehab to be able to do this," he said during his Friday press conference. "Never has it been, 'make one simulated inning and go ahead.' But that's
the only way we can make it work."
But it wasn't just that. If the Tigers had played their final series on the road instead of at home, Verlander says he probably wouldn't have been able to pitch. If the Tigers were in contention for a playoff spot in the final week of the season, Verlander probably would have been asked to sit. If his one-inning live bullpen had gone slightly awry, like his previous attempts at a comeback this season went, this weekend's celebration would have occurred without Verlander throwing a competitive pitch.
But thanks to whatever intervention from the baseball gods, Verlander will throw at least one pitch Saturday for the Tigers in front of the home fans for the first time since he was traded to the Houston Astros late in the 2017 season.
Verlander says he feels comfortable to throw 1-2 innings. It's anyone's guess to see how many he throws after.
"There's no script," he said. "Everybody feels comfortable with 20 pitches, and then after that, we're kind of in a 'who knows?'"
It's the kind of start that only the most deserving of pitchers would ever be allowed to make, and even then, only in the most optimal situations. And here's Verlander, and here are those circumstances, creating unique and rare theatre at Comerica Park.
Serendipitous? Sure.
But the fact Verlander is pitching at all on Saturday is a testament to his freakish athleticism, rehab work, his near-unparalleled longevity and his famous competitiveness – all thing that merit his Saturday send-off.
How Justin Verlander and Tigers got here
When asked what his players can do to have as long a career as Verlander, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said a lot of words to come to one conclusion: They probably can't.
"I would love our players to play for two decades," Hinch said pregame Friday. "It's just [Verlander] is an outlier. He's not normal. He has endured injury, he has endured being at the top of the sport, he has also endured being questioned as Father Time has caught up to him, and so his mind has never stopped."
Even decades ago when more pitchers enjoyed careers of at least 20 seasons, it was still a rare accomplishment. Nowadays it's basically impossible, as evidenced by the names Verlander rattled off as some of the toughest hitters he has ever faced.
"Salvy [Salvador Perez], Billy Butler, Jim Thome hit a bunch of homers off me, but that was me just figuring things out," he said, reminiscing on long-ago at-bats. "[Derek] Jeter was always a fun battle. Mike Trout ... especially the guys that you started facing a lot."
Let's zoom out on that. Thome started his Hall of Fame career in 1991 and was 36 years old when he first faced Verlander. Trout, meanwhile, is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer who is under contract until 2030, nearly 40 years after Thome debuted.
Pirates phenom Konnor Griffin, meanwhile, was born nearly a year after Verlander made his first MLB start on July 4, 2005, meaning Verlander will have faced a player who played in 1991 and a player who could play until, say, 2041.
That's a lot of baseball history Verlander will have directly impacted.
But even though Verlander has experienced just about everything a pitcher can experience in the majors – a Rookie of the Year Award, three Cy Young Awards, three no-hitters, two World Series wins (with Houston) and an MVP award – he's experiencing brand-new feelings coming into Saturday's start.
Justin Verlander's excitement to pitch Saturday
Verlander says he's experiencing the same sort of nerves he gets before every start, but there are some extra butterflies heading into Saturday.
"I haven't really known what to expect this whole time coming into this weekend. And yesterday and today, particularly today, I started really noticing, like, I'm really on edge right now and I have a lot of angst in a good way," he said. "I enjoy it, but I was like, 'Oh wow, this is more than maybe I anticipated.'"
The righty has always been able to channel intense feelings into high-level production. But Verlander shared how those feelings have evolved throughout his career, and how he has been able to channel a different mindset into the same level of success.
"I was talking with [former teammate and Pirates manager Don Kelly] on the field about this, we were talking about my intensity when I was younger, and the headphones, and the anger, and not taking to anybody on gameday," he said. "That started to change, particularly, when my daughter was born ... it just really changed me to the core. To the point that when I came back in 2022 and tried to go back into my old routine, it felt fake to me. And so I started changing things and would just use the love that she would give me.
"I'm not going to put my headphones on and be angry after that. I can't. It's impossible."
Verlander lit up speaking about Genevieve, 7, saying he's most excited this weekend about her throwing out the first pitch before Friday's game.
"We actually came out to the field and practiced off the mound one day," he said. "I asked her, 'Where do you want to go? You want to go to the mound?' And she's like, 'The mound.' Like, that's my girl."
Another special moment in what should be a weekend full of them.
The Tigers are putting on a show this weekend for all the fans in attendance, watching at home or listening on the radio, and Verlander over the past few days has repeatedly expressed his gratitude for everything that brought him to this point. But even he understands how rare an opportunity this is, especially for a 43-year-old rehabbing pitcher who has only made one start this season – nearly six months ago, all the way back on March 30 in Arizona.
"They don't allow you to do this. It isn't allowed," he said.
Well, maybe for just one pitcher, it is.
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You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Even Justin Verlander has no idea how long he'll pitch in final Tigers start
