Justin Verlander hopes to end his stellar career on the mound when the Detroit Tigers hold a two-day celebration of his career over the final weekend of the regular season.
Verlander, 43, is battling left hip and left hamstring injuries and has made just one appearance for Detroit during his farewell season. He announced his retirement in July.
“I’m not giving up, but trying to be as smart as I can about not having a setback,” Verlander told reporters Friday, according to MLB.com. “It’s starting to feel really, really good, knock on wood. I think we’re getting close to my bullpen. (Throwing) the other day in Minnesota was a big step forward. Got up to a really healthy velocity.
“It gives me a lot of optimism that it can at least do what I need it to do, hopefully one or two times. I don’t know what that looks like. Not there yet.”
Verlander’s lone appearance for Detroit this season came on March 30 against the host Arizona Diamondbacks. He gave up five runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings and took the loss in a 9-6 setback against the Diamondbacks.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner and 2011 American League MVP became a 10-time All-Star in July despite his inactivity when he was a “legend pick” for the showcase game.
Now the focus is making more progress as Verlander doesn’t want an appearance on Sept. 25 or 26 against the Pittsburgh Pirates to be just one for nostalgia.
“I don’t have that answer yet,” Verlander said of whether he can make a legitimate appearance. “I think I did the thing I’ve always done my entire career, and that’s try to push smartly through some stuff to get back, and my hamstring just wouldn’t allow it this time. It kept setting me back a week, two weeks, a few weeks. And then that happened a few times. Obviously, it’s at the point where if that happened again, I’ve got no shot at pitching. So ever since we started to build back up, it’s been this balancing act of getting out of your own way.
“The thing that served me so well my whole career, has it been working against me a little bit this time? Just trying to really listen to the trainers, listen to my body and meanwhile, look at the calendar and see the time that’s left.”
Barring an unforeseen turnaround, the Tigers (64-75) will be eliminated from postseason contention when the celebration weekend arrives. Still, one last pitching appearance would be highly important to Verlander.
“I’m not trying to go out there and make a fool of myself,” Verlander said. “But if I’m healthy enough, then I don’t see why I can’t (pitch).”
Verlander is 266-159 with a 3.33 ERA in 556 career games (all starts) with the Tigers (2005-17, 2026), Houston Astros (2017-20, 2022-24), New York Mets (2023) and San Francisco Giants (2025). He leads all active pitchers in wins and ranks eighth all-time in strikeouts (3,554).
